She's the girl that everyone wants to be
by Leoblonde
Summary: A girl, Erin, goes to camp for three months, but it turns out the office spelled her name wrong, and she's now rooming in a cabin of five boys.
1. Chapter 1

_Run baby run!__  
__Don't ever look back; __  
__They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance!__  
__Don't tell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be,__  
__Run baby run, __  
__Forever we'll be, you and me!!_

_*Clap clap*_

Erin rolled over. Her alarm clock was singing to her favorite song, Check yes, Juliet, by We the Kings. She smiled, and landed her palm on the ovular button on the top and sighed. Today was her last morning at home. At one, she would be leaving for summer camp until the week before school started.

She threw off her covers and grabbed her clothes, rushing to the bathroom before Andrew, her brother could get it. She laughed as he opened the door and ran after her, but was too slow, and ended up with a slammed door in his face.

Erin looked at herself in the mirror. The night before, she'd gone to her friend's party, and the signs were on her face. Glow in the dark liquid covered her neck and chest in pinks, neon yellows and a whitish color that was once blue. Mascara and eyeliner edged her eyes, making them look bed-head fierce. She sighed, and grabbed the make-up remover off of her shelf when Andrew started banging on the door.

"I got to pee!" he screamed at her.  
"Too much information!" Erin screamed back, and continued.

Annoyed, Erin squirted a little of the liquid onto a cotton ball, and put it back on the shelf. "Go take a whizz outside on a tree," she added calmly, and stared at her reflection over the counter, wiping off the excess make-up.

Erin smiled when she heard Andrew walk off, muttering something about how girls were ridiculous and stupid. She finished wiping off her make-up, washed her face, and applied new material to her face, this time, less, and more fresh-looking.

She finished in the bathroom, after changing, brushing her hair and teeth, and putting on deodorant, and walked out of the bathroom, seeing Andrew on the floor against the wall opposite the bathroom. She smiled. "Done," she replied.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Can't wait 'till you're gone," he grumbled, getting up.  
Girls were so annoying sometimes, taking up massive amounts of time in the bathroom.  
He could get everything done in fifteen if he didn't have to take a constitutional.

Erin eyed him. "You really ought to put a shirt on. You're going to poke my eye out one day," she added with a smirk

Andrew mocked her, making faces that she hadn't for emphasis, and pushed her shoulder gently, then let himself into the bathroom, and locked the door.

Erin rolled her eyes, tossed her dirty clothes in the hamper, and walked into her bedroom to clean it before she left. Sometimes, she thought she liked having a twin brother. He'd been there when she'd had guy problems, and stuck up for her a lot at school. Other times, she didn't understand why he didn't build a new bathroom for himself.

Erin made her bed and tidied her dresser before stuffing her perfume and make-up bag into her suitcase that was sitting on her floor behind her door.  
Then, she went to her closet and put all the shoes that her scattered around the house in order and hung up all the clothes that she'd decided not to bring.

She picked up a red shirt that was a low scoop neck and had a hole in the back, connected at the neck with a tie and studied it.  
After a moment, she threw it into her extremely unorganized suitcase that still wasn't completely packed yet.

She finished her closet, and moved onto her dresser.  
She wrapped her perfume in bubble-wrap and put it next to her suitcase alongside a small collection of her make-up.  
She grabbed her iron-supplement pills and tossed those in too.

Finally, she looked around her room for something that she might have missed.  
It felt like she missed everything.  
She thought about her just folding her room up in quarters and bringing it with her, and she smirked at herself.  
She compromised for a teddy bear that she could put on her bed to remind her of home.

She went to the linen closet and grabbed some sheets, queen sized just in case, and put that in her overfilling suitcase too.  
She contemplated stuffing her pillow it, but decided she'd just put it in the backseat in case she wanted to take a rest during her drive.

A knock on her door startled her. "Sorry," Andrew apologized, but the grin splayed across his face gave away his amusement.  
Erin made a face at him. "What are you doing??" she asked him, lifting an eyebrow.  
Andrew never came into her room.

Andrew leaned up against the door frame, crossing his arms. His man-boobs bulged out between the space, and Erin made another face at him.  
_Gross!__  
_"Just wanted to tell you that I hate you and can't wait for you to leave, and hope you never come home," he replied casually, shrugging.

Erin laughed sarcastically and pulled her suitcase onto her bed, stuffing even more necessity items into pockets. "I'll miss you too, jerk-face," she replied, pulling on the zipper. The suitcase wasn't closing.  
She groaned and set to work folding clothes, making them neat and organized, knowing it wouldn't last a week. She found a place for everything, and still didn't see how she was going to close it.  
The bag was stretched to its limit, every pocket was bulging with items.  
She stepped back, and analyzed it before looking to Andrew.  
"Help please?" she asked him.

Andrew snickered at her, but walked forward and leaned on the top of the suitcase while Erin pulled the zipper around the three sides of the baggage.  
She grinned at him. "Thanks," she replied, and patted him high on the shoulder to avoid touching his man-boob.  
_Gross_.

He looked at his sister with a questioning look and rolled his eyes. Then he opened his arms and enveloped her in a hug.. "You can always call, and you're only a day's drive away," he reminded her.  
Erin smiled. "You're such a wuss," she told him.  
All men were wusses. They liked to think that they were tough and manly, never cried and only swore when something hurt, but when they were alone, Erin was convinced that they cried like babies.

Even so, she hugged him back

"Oh, and I want pictures and other souvenirs," he added with a nod.  
"Stuff like cups and pictures of you falling on your face and stuff."

Erin sighed. Boys were impossible.  
"Yes, and then you'll get mad when I tell you it's a boy that did it." She replied.  
Andrew smiled sheepishly. "Well, how else am I supposed to badger you?"  
There was a moment of awkward silence before Andrew filled it with, "But you should stay away from boys. It would make me worry less." He added pointedly.

She remembered the year before when she went to sports camp with Andrew.  
It had been a nightmare. He tormented her, and by the end of the first week, boys refused to look at her.  
Those were the times when she wished she didn't have a twin brother. Or an older brother. Either one would work.

Erin punched him playfully in the chest. "Shut up, would you? You sound like mom,"

"Who sounds like mom?" a voice came from the doorway.

The two looked and saw their mother, Adrienne, in the doorway, wearing an apron over a t-shirt and shorts.  
Her short cropped hair was brought back into a half pony-tail to get the hair out of her face while she cooked, and her apron was covered from top to bottom in flour and water.

"Andrew is blubbering, asking me not to go," Erin teased, giving him a look out of the corner of her eye.

"Am not!" Andrew retorted. "I can't wait! I get the bathroom to myself!"  
He crossed his arms and pouted.

The three laughed. Then, Adrienne looked at her daughter.

In her mind, she remembered when her children were three years old, playing together on the floor. Andrew would build the castle for Erin to play with, and would faithfully fix it every time Erin would start crying because it fell apart, and when Andrew would carry Erin home from the playground a block away because Erin, the dramatic little girl she'd become, had fallen and scraped her knee.

Tears flooded her eyes as she thought about the past, and she grabbed Erin's hand.  
Erin gave her a look that said, 'Mom, what's wrong?'

"My baby girl is leaving..." she whimpered, her bottom lip quivering.

Erin, trying to lighten the mood, laughed. "Mother, I'm going to camp. I'll be back in three months. I have one more year before I leave for good. No worries," she said, and hugged her mom.  
Over her shoulder, Andrew was laughing and pointing at her. Erin stuck her tongue out at him, and then kissed her mother's cheek.

"Alright," her mother sniffled. "I uhm..." Adrienne wiped her face with her floury apron. "I baked you cookies for the trip up and I packed your lunch." she told them, absent-mindedly walking out of her room towards her ever-beloved kitchen.

Erin smiled at Andrew with knowing eyes. Both of Adrienne's children knew that their mother wasn't going to take Erin's leaving very lightly, even if she was coming back in three months and going to be going to their high school for her senior year. Their father had died a year back in the war, and so Adrienne took anyone's leaving really hard.

"I want some cookies," Andrew grumbled, following the two girls into the main area of the house.

Erin smiled back victoriously. "Ask mom to make some for you," she replied sarcastically, and went into the kitchen.  
She knew Adrienne wouldn't make another batch for at least another week or so, and Andrew would probably blow up the kitchen if he tried to make them.

When they got to the kitchen, Erin was welcomed by a giant box of cookies, enough to last her two days, even if she sat on the couch all day and vegged on them. Her eyeballs popped out of her head. "Mom!! Wow!! Thanks!! But…how am I going to fit all this?" she asked, looking at her nearly over-stuffed lunch-box.

Her mom shrugged. "You'll fit it somehow," she said with a knowing smile and a sniffle, and wiped off her hands satisfactorily on her apron.

Over an hour later, Erin was all packed up in her small silver car.  
She left it running, and got out to say her good-byes.

Her mother, eyes now flooded with a fresh load of tears, opened her arms and rushed forward to hug the young woman that stood in front of her. "I remember," she said. "When you were still playing with Barbies and bubbles in the front yard. Now, you're all packed up in a car, leaving me," She mumbled through her tears.

"Mom!" Erin exclaimed, trying to look at her mom in the eyes, but Adrienne wouldn't release her vice-like grip on Erin. "I'll be back! I promise! In three months, I'll be standing right here in this spot, and you'll run out to hug me, and welcome me home! I promise!"

Adrienne sighed, and sniffled again, her eyes starting to stop leaking already. "Alright. I love you, Erin Rhiannon Daniels." she said, holding her daughter at arm's length. Then, "I've got to go," she said. "Or I'll never let you leave."

Adrienne kissed her daughter on the forehead and cheeks, and then left abruptly for her house with her head down.  
She really didn't want her to leave. Erin was her baby girl, the more fragile of her twins.  
The more delicate.  
The more precious.

Of course, Adrienne loved her son just as much as she loved her daughter, but not having a husband to bond with her son left him to find another 'dad' figure, while Erin and Adrienne bonded more close.

Adrienne would miss her daughters company at night when they sat down and watched a chick flick that Andrew refused to watch. She would miss the fashion critique that her daughter willingly offered before she left the house.

But she could still call. That was the only up side to the situation that she could see at the moment.  
With another sniffle, she walked inside, and shut the door behind her.

Andrew watched his mom leave. Then, he turned to Erin, and tucked his hands into his pockets. "Well, I'll see you later, baby sis," he said.  
Erin moaned. "How many times have I asked you not to call me that?" she asked him with a scowl.  
Andrew looked around and puckered his lips. "Uhmmm…" he thought outloud. "About…fourteen million, forty seven and six." He told her.  
Erin laughed, pushing blond hair out of her eyes. "That's not even a real number." She said.  
Andrew nodded. "No, but six is, and it's the number of minutes older than you I am," he said proudly, offering a hand to Erin.

But Erin didn't take it. She launched herself into her brother's arms, and hugged him tight. Andrew closed his hands around her waist, and lightly kissed her hair.  
"Be good," he said. "No boys," he added. "I don't want to have to take a day out of my work schedule and bathroom lounging to come and beat some pervert up for you," he said casually.  
"But if you really need me to, I will," he added just in case.  
Erin laughed, and let Andrew walk her to her car. "Don't worry about me. You can blow the bathroom up for three months." she said.  
"Yes!" Andrew hissed.  
"But when I come back, all war on the bathroom toilet ceases." She warned with a finger.  
Andrew gave her a look. "I'll work on an air-freshener strong enough for me while you're gone." He promise.

Erin made a face. "You're so _gross!_" she told him.  
Andrew shrugged. "I'm your brother," he said, kissed his fingers and slapped her forehead.  
Erin scowled at him, but he'd already shut her door.  
He had his pinky and thumb open on his closed fingers, and he put it to his ear.  
"Call me," he mouthed to her.

Erin stuck her tongue out, but nodded, put the car in reverse, and backed out of her driveway and headed down along the road, waving briefly.

Andrew stared at the car, waving until he couldn't see it anymore, and set off for the house to consol his mother with a dreaded chick-flick.


	2. Chapter 2

_Check yes Juliet, are you with me?__  
__Rain is falling down on the sidewalk, __  
__I won't go until you come outside__  
__*clap clap*_

_Check yes Juliet, Kill the limbo.__  
__I keep tossing rocks at your window, __  
__There's no turning back for us tonight!!_

Erin had been gone not even three minutes before she plugged in her 'We the Kings' CD, cranked up the volume and put her shades on.  
Now, she was heading down I-60, her head bobbing to the music.

Sadly, it changed to 'Breakdown' by 'Forever the Sickest Kids', and she turned it down a tad, looking at the directions Andrew had so kindly printed out for her and stuck in her windshield.  
He knew that, even though Erin protested that she would not get lost, she would lose her way somewhere along the line for some reason or another and would need a map.

She grinned, thanking Andrew silently, and flipped her blinker on. She had to get over into the last lane. She was in the third from the right.  
She coasted into the lane, horns blaring at her, and took the exit ramp.

When the danger had passed, she stopped at the light, and looked for signs of the camp she was attending. All she saw was were signs to the nearest major towns, San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Phoenix and Bakersfield.  
She sighed, and bent over her map, aware that no one was behind her.  
She was looking for Lemon Grove, a small city that was supposed to be near San Diego.  
She searched over the small area, looking for a larger 'L'. With squinted eyes, she found the tiny city in point zero zero five font, Lemon grove, slightly north to San Diego.

"Thanks," she murmured, and took a left.

_Sit tight, I'm gonna need you to keep time __  
__Come on just snap, snap, snap your fingers for me __  
__Good, good now we're making some progress __  
__Come on just tap, tap, tap your toes to the beat __  
__And I believe this may call for a proper introduction, and well __  
__Don't you see, I'm the narrator, and this is just the prologue?_

_Swear to shake it up, if you swear to listen __  
__Oh, we're still so young, desperate for attention __  
__I aim to be your eyes, trophy boys, trophy wives_

An hour later, and nearly an empty gas tank, she arrived at the sign that read:

**Lemon Grove: 18 miles**

With a whoop of glee, she pressed on the accelerator, and made it into the city within twenty minutes.

When Erin reached the city, she stopped at a BP gas station. Leaning on the car as the gas went in and the price went up, she studied the map. She had about another fifteen minutes, according to the piece of paper, and then to sign into the camp and go and set everything up.

As soon as the gas clicked off, she put the nozzle back, paid with her card, and zoomed out of the gas station.

She admired the scenery as she went.

Houses were larger than those in Tucson. They were tall and long, two or three stories, while those in Arizona were smaller and more squat, to preserve energy and lessen the cost of air conditioning in the desert.  
San Diego civilians didn't need to worry about A/C. It was a breezy seventy degrees, the sun was out, and she could smell the salt in the air from the ocean not even twenty miles away.  
There was also a nasty grime smell in the air, like polluted air.  
But she ignored it, turned off her A/C in the car and rolled down her window, letting her hair fly around in the wind.  
This camp was going to be awesome.

Thirty minutes later, Erin reached the camp. 'CAMP HARVEY!' read the sign happily at the entrance of the camp/park.  
She carefully drove in, taking in the scenery, the pool, the lake, the cabins, the wash houses, the parks, the tennis courts, and the cafe.

Smiling, and thoroughly excited, she stopped at the office, and got out of her car.

"Hello! Welcome to Camp Harvey!" said the lady at the desk as soon as she stepped foot into the building.

Erin grinned. "Thanks, do I sign in here?" she asked, pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head.

The lady nodded. "Yes," she replied, nodding to the clipboard hanging from the desk.

Erin smiled. "What's your name?" the lady asked, heading to the computer that looked extremely outdated in the corner.

"Erin Daniels," she replied, and took up the clipboard in one hand and the pen in the other.

The lady tick-tacked away at the keyboard, and clicked the mouse a couple times.  
Erin looked at her when she'd finished, and frowned.

The lady seemed to be either having a problem with the computer, or she couldn't read it because she was frowning as well, and was leaning close to the screen. Erin held in a comment that leaning that close was bad for the eyes.

"Erin....Daniels...." the lady repeated for herself. She looked at her. "We have a cabin for you...but...it's a boy's cabin." she said.

Erin looked around, helpless. "Oh?" she said, not knowing what to say or how to help.

"Have you changed the spelling of your name within the last...three months?" the lady asked her. Her voice reminded her of that of a shaky old woman's'.

"Uhmm..no," Erin replied, confused.

The lady got up, and left Erin in the lobby to stand and look dumb  
She observed the lobby first.  
It was a golden color, bright enough to lighten someone's mood when they walked in, but missed the pastry yellow color.  
There were pictures on the wall of kids that she presumed that had spent their summer at the camp too.  
All of faces in the pictures were plastered with smiles, grinning from ear-to-ear, teeth open in a laughing smile.  
She felt the need to be with those people. She wanted to have the fun that they were having.

Moments later, the lady came back with a younger, but still aged lady. "Hello, Erin," she said with a smile, looking at her through flat-top oval glasses. Then, she went right to work, while the original receptionist helped other people that had lined up behind her.

After a minute, the second lady sat back in her chair. "Well, Erin," she said, getting up from the computer with a piece of paper.  
"I'm really sorry about this, but you're going to have to room with…five other boys. I guess when someone was talking to your parent on the phone, they put the male spelling of Erin down, A-A-R-O-N and you were put into the boy's camp schedule." she told Erin.

Erin looked around. "Alright?" she replied, unsure of anything at the moment.  
"So what do I do?"  
They put her in a room with _boys_??  
What were they thinking?!?!

Boys were pervs, complete jerks, disgusting and unhygienic.  
_Great_.

The lady looked down, and picked up a key from a place on the desk. "We would have moved you into a girls' cabin, but this year, we reached maximum capacity and there aren't _ANY_ spots left in the camp. There is an isolation cabin that we are allowed to offer you, but for the time being, you would be alone, until someone does something," she told Erin.

Erin thought about it. She could be with five other boys, whom she knew not, or she could be alone. At least she would be able to possibly talk to someone with the boy's cabin.

"I'll stay where I am," she told the lady with a bothered smile, and took the receipt that was on the paper.

"I'm really sorry, Erin," the manager told her again.

Erin nodded. "It's fine." she said, and walked out of the office. As she exited, she thought she could hear two girls murmur about her.  
'She's so lucky. She gets to sleep in the same room with five guys. What I wouldn't give to trade for that.'

Erin rolled her eyes. _Yeah_, she though. _I'm sure you would love it,_  
Then, she went and hopped into her car.  
She looked at the key the manager had given her.  
On it was a happy D-13.  
On her receipt was Aaron Daniels, Room D-13, $475.86.  
'_Expensive camp,' _she thought_  
_Her mother was going to be ticked.

"D-13..." she said, looked under her windshield for her cabin. She was at D-3. She pressed the gas a little, flying by a group of girls in skimpy two pieces, tattoos and piercings in flip-flops with nicely tanned skin.

Then she found the cabin. It was just like the other cabins. Except that it was full of boys. And she would room with them for three months.

Erin sighed and got out of her car, looking up at the balcony. There was a guy in a blue polo looking down at her. She imagined him like a dog, looking at her, wondering why she was in his territory. She removed her glance from the guy and took a step forward. Above her, Erin heard, "Hey guys!! There's a girl coming in!"


	3. Chapter 3

_Oh boy_,  
Erin said to herself.  
_There was a pack of wolves in here. A pack of wolves ready to eat me, maul me, tear me apart. This was their territory, and I was trespassing._

Erin looked up at the welcoming door. She was almost afraid to go in. Right about now, she'd really like to go back to her car and get the key to the isolation cabin. There would be no wolves, wondering why she was coming into their cabin there.

_Just go in, Erin. It's not like they can kick you out. Just walk in and tell them, 'Hey guys. Seems kinda weird for me to be in here...but some of the names got switched out and I'm going to be in here._  
Oh yes, this was going to go great.

Erin jumped up and down once, trying to rid her anxiety, then put her fingers around the handle and yanked the door open.  
Inside was a rather nice cabin, covered from head-to-toe in wood.  
Wood floors, wood paneling, wood ceiling. There was a light through a hole in the ceiling that hung in the center of the room.  
A red rug covered the main part of the floor, and was surrounded by colored pieces of furniture that, although mismatched, seemed to flow with the master design of the room.

There was nothing on the walls, except for a sign gaily engraved with WELCOME TO CAMP HARVEY!

Then, the sound of footsteps caught her attention, and five boys filed down from the upstairs.

"The whole crew then?" she asked out loud. "Great."  
The first guy was in shorts, a blue and black striped shirt and flip-flops.  
The second and third were in jeans, the fourth in khakis and the fifth in board shorts

The first guy looked her over. "So...not that we really mind, but...what are you doing here?" he asked his voice rather deep for such a clean looking guy. He wore dark and short brown hair over his pretty smoky eyes and thin but long nose. He had a caramel-y skin tone.

Erin laughed nervously, and pulled one arm in with the other. "That's good that you don't mind," she said. "Because...I have to room with you guys." she added, looking extremely embarrassed.

_Why didn't I take that isolation cabin????_

A black guy stepped forward. "What?" he asked her. He sounded like the bad guy from the movie 'Daredevil'.

Erin felt so small under his gaze. His arms were about the size of her waist She felt like an ant under a shoe. No, more like a house on the earth.  
"Well..." she began to explain, willing her vocal cords to emit sound. "The people in the office messed up my name, and spelled it A-A-R-O-N instead of E-R-I-N and so they stuck me with you guys. And they tried to change it back, but every single one of the other girls' cabins are full, and they can't put me anywhere." she explained quickly, making her short explanation more like a single sentence.  
Her fingers were shaking.

She was so outnumbered here. There were five guys, each who could probably hold their own in a fight, and here was teeny, tiny little Erin, the girl who had a guys' name.

The wolves were hungry; Erin saw it in their eyes. They were going to tell her to scram.  
She could sleep in her car, right?

The first guy who eyed her from the balcony was first to break the silence.  
"You're not joking, are you?" he asked her suspiciously.

Erin shook her head. "No, I'm not kidding." she replied, pulling out her key that had a giant D-13 engraved in it, along with 'Property of Camp Harvey!' and showed it to the guy.

The guy took the key and shrugged. "Alright," he said as though she's passed some test. "I don't mind, anyway." he announced with a smile, showing the guys her key.

Erin frowned. _Pervert._

The black guy punched the first guy. "Shut up, Connor," he scolded, and then looked at Erin.  
"They didn't offer you the isolation cabin?" he asked.

Another guy, this one red-headed punched the black guy.  
"Why don't you go to the isolation cabin." he suggested.

The black guy shrugged, and for the first time to Erin, seemed to look like a nice guy.  
"It's cool, I don't blame you." he told Erin.

Erin raised her eyebrows and nodded. "Thaanks..." she said.

The first guy looked around, rubbing an invisible goatee.  
"Well," he said. "Since you will be staying in our cabin, I guess we should get acquainted." he suggested.

The boys shrugged.  
"I'm Connor, as you probably already know," he said, pointing to himself. "And this is Chris," he said, pointing to a guy who hadn't said a word and had blond hair with freckles. Chris waved.

"I am Ben," said the black guy with a smile.  
_He looks nice now..._ Erin thought bitterly.  
"And this is Mike and Luke." he said, pointing to another brunette and the red-head.  
They both waved.

Erin smiled. "Well, Connor, Chris, Ben, Luke and Mike, I am Erin." she smiled, and pointed to herself, making fun of Connor, who'd done the same earlier.

Connor laughed at her. "Oh, I guess we have a clown in our cabin now, huh?" he asked sarcastically.

Erin smiled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." she replied. "Now be such lovely gentlemen and help me unload my car?" she asked with a grin, and walked out of the room without consent.

The guys looked from each other and to Erin again.  
"I understand why they messed her name up. Erin is kinda a guy's name." Ben announced.  
Mike pushed him. "Shut up," he said, and headed out the door to help Erin, who was already pulling luggage out of her trunk.


	4. Chapter 4

Erin grinned on her way out of the cabin.  
_Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought_ she said to herself, and inserted her car key into the trunk key.  
_Maybe we'll even be friends...._ she dared to think.  
_The Connor guy was super cute. And so was...Luke, was his name_?

Erin opened her trunk and pulled the first very large suitcase out with a little bit of difficulty.  
"Andrew packed these last," she groaned, pushing her legs against the ground and pulling the heavy bag out of her car.

Mike, the brunette who didn't say anything was the first to come out.  
"Need help?" he asked.

Erin smiled. "Yeah, actually." she replied, and touched her suitcase.  
"It's really heavy," she advised him.

Mike shrugged, kneeled down and wrapped his arms around the base of the bag. Then, in one fluid movement, he lifted the suitcase, and turned to go inside.

Erin grinned, and watched the muscles in his back flex and contract.  
_That's hot,_ she thought and turned to get the other suitcase, blushing.

Connor came out. "Hey, how many are there?" he asked her.

"Just two," she replied.

"Just two!!" Connor yelled back at the boys, who were crowded at the doorway.  
Then, he went and leaned against Erin's car.  
"So," he said. "Your name is really Erin?" he asked her.

Erin nodded, pushing aside extra bags to get to the other suitcase.  
"Yup," she grunted, pulling on the handle, getting no where.

Connor pushed off the car. "Want help?" he asked her, coming up behind her.

Erin shook her head, her lips tight in a strained tug. "No," she grunted, and tugged on the bag.

Connor tried to get around her, but Erin wouldn't move.  
"Let me help," he said offering-ly. "I don't want you to hurt yourself." he added frantically.

Erin shook her head again, and heaved the bag. It came loose from its hold under the trunk, and Erin lost her footing.  
She released her grip on the suitcase, let out a squawk and reached out for Connor's arm.

Connor caught her, his body and chest acting as a shield. He slipped his hands through her outstretched arms, and caught her before she fell.

Erin looked up at Connor, breathing rapidly.

"And I asked to help you so you wouldn't hurt yourself," he said with a smirk.

Erin blushed. "Thaanks," she whispered, and let him shift her up back to her feet.

Connor smiled, and smoothed his hands down her sides.  
"Anytime, beautiful," he replied, then leaned in, took the suitcase from the trunk, and hauled it inside.

Erin touched her hair, and watched as Connor walked inside the house.  
_Beautiful?_ She thought. _Talk about random..._

Erin got out the rest of her bags, her backpack that had extra stuff inside like her MP3 player and paper and pencils for writing, and her bathroom suitcase that had her "items", her make-up, and face cleaner, shampoo and conditioner, soap, and other things along that route, and last her purse in the passenger seat.  
Then, she put her keys in her pocket, closed her car doors, and headed toward the door.

Connor was coming down the stairs when she came in.  
"Oh, yeah. Your room is inside. Uhmm...you had to have the middle bed because we took the bunks, but you won't be sleeping under anyone, and you're closet to the bathroom," he told her, scratching the back of his head.

Erin smiled. "Okay, thanks," she said, and went up the stairs.

The second floor was decorated much the same as the bottom with wood walls and ceilings. There was a room for hanging out, minus the television, chairs and a small couch, along with a table that was secretly meant for card games at two in the morning.

Erin went from the first room the bedroom, and saw two bunk beds, and a pullout bed, that was already pulled out for her, with both her suitcases on top of it.  
Down the wall a bit, the bathroom door was closed, and a light shining vaguely under it.

She set her stuff down on the bed, and then sat herself down, waiting for the bathroom.  
She was going to install the air freshener she brought.  
Guys thought it was cool to take a large crap, and then do nothing about the stench, so the air freshener by glade should do something about it.

The other beds were already set up with bags around them, wallets laying on them, and pillows at the heads, covered by blankets.

Erin decided she'd do the same.  
Looking around, she decided to take off her suitcases before trying to find the sheets she would dress the bed with.

After she finished covering her bed with sheets, covers and two pillows, she organized her suitcases so they could slide under her bed.

The opening of a door startled her.

Ben looked at her. "Sorry," he said. "You...might not want to go in there for a while." he added, pointing to the bathroom.

Erin rolled her eyes, and picked up the air freshener off her bedside table.  
"Here," she said, and handed it to him.

Ben smiled, and plugged it in the bathroom.  
"Thanks," he said sheepishly, and looked at her.  
"So...you think you can put up with five other guys?" he asked.

Erin shrugged, sitting on her newly made bed.  
"That depends," she said, swinging her feet.  
"Can you put up with a girl beating you at poker and blackjack?"

Ben laughed. "Oh, ho, ha-ha, I don't know about that, Missy." he told her, pretending to belly-laugh.

Erin shrugged. "We'll see," she said, and stood up, following him down the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

Downstairs, the boys were lounging in the living room. There was a three-seater couch, a loveseat and two individual chairs. Mike and Chris had taken a seat on the loveseat, Luke was in one chair and Been took the other, leaving Erin to sit on the couch by Connor.

She smiled at the boys and flopped on the couch.

"So," Chris said, breaking the silence that had settled when Ben and Erin had entered the room.

"Your name was messed up and they placed you in our cabin?"

Erin nodded. "Yup."

"But isn't that against the rules or something?" Connor asked.

Been shook his head. "Nah," he replied. "But the camp prefers non-co-ed cabins. But since there's no shower, and the bathroom is smaller than my pinky finger, they probably think that it won't be a problem. And she paid for the camp, it's not like they can say 'Oops, now you have to go home.'"

Erin guessed that he'd been to the camp before.

"A counselor will most likely come over nightly to check up on her," Chris announced.

Benn nodded. "Probably," he agreed.

"DUDE!" exclaimed the very silent Connor, who was now looking at a text on his phone. "The Giants just beat the Patriots in the first pre-games!"

For a half an hour after that, the boys talked about sports, leaving Erin to sit and listen.

They got onto the subject of home sports, and Ben announced that he was the head lineman for his football team. His stocky build and lean muscles told the story for him.

Chris and Luke played baseball for their schools, which were rivals.

Mike was a goalie for both soccer and ice hockey, and he ran the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 meter relays for his track team.

Connor grinned when they asked him about sports.

"I don't play sports," he admitted.  
Ben seemed shocked. "Really?" he asked.

Connor nodded. "Yup. I've tried them all, but I don't like people yelling at me, or having someone mess up on my team because of me. So it just stopped playing sports. But I'm in a weight lifting class." He added.

The conversation shifted from sports to how much they benched, making Erin giggle.

Chris and Mike lifted about the same, Luke went to a gym instead of in school and was a little behind Chris and Mike by about five pounds. Connor weighed in at 280 and Ben clocked in with a whopping 345 pounds on bench.

Chris looked at her when Connor looked disappointed to have Ben beat his weight. "What do you lift?" he asked her. Erin stopped laughing. "145," she admitted.

Luke raised his eyebrows. "That's not bad for a girl," he said, trying to compliment her.

"Why do you have to add the 'for a girl' part?" she snapped at him.

Luke shrugged. "Because most girls can't lift more than their book bags, and at that." He replied.

Erin shrugged. "I have more muscle in my legs anyway,"

Mike looked at her. "What sports do you play?"

Erin took a deep breath. "Uhmm..Soccer, volleyball, tennis...and I swim." She recited.

Mike was impressed. "I thought you played soccer. You have very tight legs." He said.

Erin suddenly felt subconscious about her body as all ten eyes drifted to her legs.

She covered them up with a pillow. "Thanks," she replied warily.

By the time they'd finished discussing sports, Erin had labeled them all.

Ben, obviously, was the cool jock with a super soft hear, but couldn't keep a relationship.

Mike was the athlete that had a steady relationship or no girlfriend.

Like was all baseball, and got B's and C's.

Chris was the nerdy, yet cool guy who could get a girlfriend, but never found the right girl, and was on heartbreak leave from girls and used baseball as an outlet.

Connor was the punk kid who wasn't great in his studies, but if he applied himself, he could get the best grades in class. He, of course had girls lined up for him to date, and he might have dated a few, but unlike most punk kids, he didn't use girls.

Erin mentally noted to herself to steer clear of him.

"So…" Luke said. "What do we do here?"

Ben was the one who knew the answer. "A bunch of things. Everyday, there's a craft in the main hall, and open gym where you can play just about everything. There are also a bunch of classes you can take like art class, cooking, sewing which involves crochet, knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, and other stuff. There's a pool that open everyday except Sunday, and a REC center, where you just chill and stuff. Oh, and jousting."

Chris was laughing. "Been here before?" he asked. Ben was confused. "Yeah, once, why?"

Connor sniggered. "You know all about those sewing classes, Big Benny."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Connor," he snapped, and relaxed into his chair.

"I'm hungry," announced Luke.

Chris nodded. "Yeah, me too," he agreed.

Mike looked at his watch. "What time is dinner being served?" he asked Ben.

"Around 5:30 is my guess," he replied. "That's what time is was served last year."

"Well, it's 5:28 now. Let's go," he said, and got up.

All five boys stood; Erin stayed sitting. She wasn't sure if the invitation had been extended to her or not, so it was better, she decided to sit just in case they all looked at her and told her she wasn't invited.

She looked up to see Connor's hand extended to her. "Coming?" he asked.

Erin smiled, and took his hand, helping herself up. As she got up, Connor's hands slipped to her waist, and shuffled out behind her.  
_Maybe that was an accident..._ she thought, but forgot those thoughts, and walked out the door after the ravenous boys.


	6. Chapter 6

The group had decided to walk the half mile to get to the dinner hall.

Connor spotted some of his friends and told the group that he'd catch up later, leaving Erin with one less guy to deal with.

"Where are you guys from?" Luke asked.

"Virginia," Ben replied in his pretty baritone voice.

"Kentucky," said Chris.

"Me too," Luke responded.

Mike smiled. "I came here from Texas,"

"Wow," Erin said. "I thought I drove a long way to get here." she said. Her simple drive, her simple six hour drive was nothing compared to Kentucky. "I came from Arizona." she added.

Ben came from Nevada and Connor was a Californian.

Chris nodded. "Cool," he said, herding them away from a passing car.

For the next half an hour, they managed to gripe about the humidity, and how horrible it was.  
They stopped complaining when the air was permeated with the smell of their dinner.

"Yum! Hamburgers!" Ben said, and quickened his pace, rubbing his stomach.

Once they got through the line at the dinner hall, Ben pointed to the balcony above them. "We'll meet up there," he said, then left them to get his dinner.

Quickly, the other boys we disappearing around her, so Erin decided to leave before she was standing there alone. Chris followed her.

"Hey," he said.

Erin smiled back. "Hello."

There were two lines. A small line for some kind of Mediterranean sub that Erin wasn't brave enough to try, and a Mexican line.  
After a second, she decided to play it safe and get burritoes.

She walked over to a small wall that held trays, plates and eating utensils, and she grabbed one of each, plus a cup and got in line in front of Chris behind a red-head.

The line moved fairly quickly, and in no time, she was carefully arranging her plate with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sourcream, cheese, chicken and some corn mixture with bell peppers. Her other plate which she grabbed from the top of the buffet line she devoted to Spanish rice and sour cream.

The red headed guy watched her organize her condiments on her plate, waiting until she was ready to load her tortilla, then looked at his own overstuffed tortilla, knowing there was no way he was going to wrap it and eat it without a mess and laughed silently.  
"That's a good idea," he told her.  
Erin smiled politely. "Thank you," she replied, looking at him briefly.

After a moment, "I'm Brandon." he said, not looking up.

"Erin, nice to meet you," she replied, looking around for hot sauce, finding it, and throwing some packets onto her tray and then lining up for the drinks.

"What cabin are you in?" Brandon asked, following her to the drinks.

"D13," Erin replied simply, filling her glass half with unsweetened tea and lemonade.  
"Have a good day," she said brightly, and left him there to fill up his empty cup.

Erin walked around to the steps, carefully going up them, one hand under her tray, one holding her glass. She paused at the top, looking for someone familiar, and finding only Connor at a lone table in the middle.  
"Hey," she said to get his attention when she was close enough.

Connor jumped a tiny bit in his chair, and his finger slipped out of his mouth.

Erin snickered, sitting across from him.  
"Didn't mean to scare you," she said.

Connor smiled, dimples puncturing his tan cheeks. "It's cool. Thought I'd save us a table. Mind if I go get something to eat?"

Erin shook her head and began mixing her rice and sour cream.

Not long after Connor left, Ben and Luke came up.

"Hey Erin, thanks for saving us a table." Ben said.

Erin shook her head. "Connor did, actually." she replied.

Luke looked at Ben and shrugged before taking a seat beside where Connor was and Ben beside him.

The two had gotten meatloaf, green beans and potatoes with gravy, plus a slice of red cake.

"What was on your side besides Mexican?" Ben asked her, pulling a napkin out from it's holder in the middle of the table as Chris came up beside her.

"Some Mediterranean sandwich you could not have paid me to eat." she shrugged.

Chris sat down. "Sorry it took me so long," he said. "That red head kid over filled his drink after you left, causing a lot of slippage and mess,"

Erin laughed. "Really?" she asked.

Chris nodded, smiling. "Yeah. He wasn't paying attention," he replied.

"That's great. What was he watching?"

Chris looked at her as though it was the easiest question in the world. "Who else? You."  
Erin nearly choked on her rice. "Why me?" she asked.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Never mind." he said haughtily.

Erin took a drink of her Arnie Palmer.  
_Why would he be watching me...._she wondered.

Chris seemed upset.  
"Why do you think he asked for your cabin number?" he demanded.

Erin shrugged. "I dunno..." she replied.

The two dropped the conversation as the other two boys walked up to join them.


	7. Chapter 7

When the six reached the cabin, the sun was setting on the coast, and the rays from the sun were flying over trees in hot hues of red, orange and pink in a beautiful assembly, nourishing the skies with it's color.  
Erin stopped to look at it before she walked inside, blinking her eyes several times to become accustomed to the filtered light.  
Overhead, the buzz of the lights filled the room, and a few gnats swarmed the light like a flock of birds. Erin sat down on the love seat, and Chris followed her.  
The five sat there quickly, Mike having gone upstairs to go to the bathroom.  
Feeling her pocket start to vibrate, Erin reached into it, pulling out her phone and flipping it open.  
"Hello?"  
"Erin! Why haven't you called?" said her mother on the other line.  
"Hey to you too, Mom," Erin laughed.  
"We just got back from dinner."  
"We?"  
Erin nodded. "Yeah. Actually, it's a funny story. The counselor people messed up my name and put the male spelling down instead of my spelling, and so...yeah. I'm rooming with guys." she said hesitantly.  
"Ooh," said her mother, her voice full of surprise.  
"Boys...well..uhmm.."  
In the background, she heard her brother jump up from what she presumed a chair at the table from the screeching sound of metal on tile.  
"What boys?" Andrew demanded loudly.  
"Shush, Andrew. Well, Erin, you know you can always sleep in your car if things get bad or you feel uncomfortable. And I'm sure the staff would be more than willing to help you out if you needed it..and...Andrew can always come up there..."  
"Mom, it's okay. They're super nice, and I know they wouldn't try anything." she interrupted her mother.  
"Besides, they'd have to answer to Andrew, and I don't think anyone would like to do that." she added with a grin, glancing at the boys who were all looking at her curiously, blatantly listening to her conversation curiously. She grinned at them when they all simultaneously sat back at the mention of Andrew.

Her mom was still unconvinced. "I don't know, Erin, boys are...well...boys. They think with their...heads and not their...heads." she told her.

Erin snickered. "I know. Trust me mom, if there was a girls' dorm, I would've been in there, but they're ALL taken up."

Erin's mother finally gave in. "All right. But call anyone, including the police if you need to."

Erin looked at the boys. She didn't think she'd need to call the police. They were all super sweet, in some way or another. Chris smiled at her and touched her hand.

"So how is home?" she asked.  
"Well, let Andrew tell you about it, I have to go finish dinner. I love you darling."  
"Love you too, Mom."  
"So, what's wrong with the boys?" Andrew said, right off the back.  
Erin giggled, looking at the five boys who were staring at her. "Nothing bad." she said in a sweet voice.  
"Ere, not funny." Andrew warned.  
"Uhm," Erin pondered how to tell her brother without him blowing up. "I'm...rooming with them?"  
"What?"  
Erin quickly explained the situation, and step-by-step, she calmed her brother down.  
"Well, you let me know, any hour of the day, if you need me."  
"Yes Andy." She said, pulling the phone away to see her battery flashing at her.

"I gotta go Andrew. My battery is about to die." Erin told him, a little thankful.  
Andrew sighed. "Sure. Love you, Ere."  
"Love you too, Andrew," and she hung up, putting a mental note in her head to put her phone on the charger that night.

Erin hung up the phone.  
"You guys got super quite," she announced, making them chuckle.

Ben shrugged. "We were interested in Andrew." he said simply.

Erin laughed. "Who thinks they can beat me at Blackjack?" she asked, getting up and heading for the stairs to the table upstairs.

"I think I can," Chris offered, following her.

Erin just laughed going up the steps, followed by five boys.


	8. Chapter 8

"So," Erin said, shuffling her deck of cards expertly.  
"You all know how to play?" she asked.

The five boys nodded.

"No duhh," Ben said.

"Hey," Erin replied sternly and started dealing two cards to everyone.

Once they were all out, she dealt herself, and set the deck down in favor for her two cards.

She smiled at her cards, set them back down.  
"Staying." she announced. "Anyone wanna hit?"  
"Hit me," Ben said, holding out his hand.  
"Hit me," Connor added.  
"Staying,"  
"Me too,"  
"Staying." announced the other three.  
"Hit me," Ben repeated with a sigh.  
"Staying," concluded Connor.

"Well boys," Erin said at last.  
"Let's see what you got."  
Connor laid down fifteen, Ben had nineteen, Chris had twenty along with Mike and Luke had gone over.  
Erin smugly laid down twenty-one.  
"I win," she said.

Ben glared at her.  
"You cheated." he accused her.  
Erin gasped. "I think not," she replied. Ben raised an eyebrow.  
"You deal then, grouch." she snapped, and thrust the deck at him, which he shuffled twice before handing out cards.

This hand, Connor had received a twenty-one, and was extremely proud of himself, sitting back, watching the others draw and go over, like Chris who hit twice and ended up with twenty-seven and Luke with twenty-two. Ben got nineteen and Mike ended up with seventeen.  
Erin showed her own twenty-one, and Connor's mouth dropped. "What?" he said.  
Ben grinned.  
"Alright," he said, and dealt a tie-breakers hand.  
"I got nine," he said.  
Erin grinned. "Seventeen," she replied.  
Then she looked at Ben.  
"I suppose you helped me cheat now, huh?"

Ben only grinned and dealt another hand.  
The group played for over four hours, and by the time they stopped, it was two in the morning.  
The boys had taught Erin poker and rummy, two card games she'd heard of but never played.

Then they were interrupted by a knock on the door.  
"Who is gonna come knocking at two?" Chris asked, rather perturbed.  
"Maybe the counselors," Ben offered, getting up, followed by the crowd.  
They made their way down the stairs, Ben first, and to the door.  
"She's fine," Ben stated while he opened the door, then he froze.  
It wasn't a counselor member at all.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, staring down at someone at the door.

Erin pushed her way to the front.  
"Who is it?" she asked, squeezing between Luke and Chris, who weren't moving an inch.

Finally, she managed to slip through Chris' barrier to see Brandon standing on their porch.  
"He...," he said to Ben, his eyes continuously drifting back and forth to Erin and Ben.  
"I'm here for Erin." he added, looking straight at her.

Erin furrowed her eyebrows.  
"This late? For what?"

Brandon smiled. "There's a party at my cabin," he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at a cabin with all lights on in the distance.

Ben stared the guy down.  
"What for?" he demanded.

Brandon looked at Ben equally as stern, even though he was a good four inches shorter than him.  
"Just because. Now, does she need permission from you to leave this cubicle or something? 'Cause if you don't mind, I'd like to get her there before the party is over."

Ben glared at Brandon.

"Party?" Erin asked Brandon, looking at him with big blue eyes.

Brandon nodded. "I mean...if you want to." he told her.  
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I know it's late and all..."

Erin shook her head.  
"I'd love to go!" she said happily.

Chris' head shot toward her.  
"What?" he demanded.

Erin shrugged.  
"Why not?" she asked.  
"It's a party. Be right back, Brandon." she called to him, and ran up the stairs.

Chris turned to Brandon.  
"Dude...what are you doing?" he snarled.

Brandon pretended to be interested in the inside of their dorm.  
"Come on, man. You know exactly what' going on. She's hot. And you've obviously made no move. And I'm interested. So...you put it all together." he told him.  
"Nice cabin..." he added for spite.

Chris glared at Brandon for a minute, then turned and stomped up the stairs.

Ben watched him go, feeling sorry for the guy.  
Then, he walked over to the door.  
"She'll come out when she's ready," he told Brandon, and promptly closed the door in his face.

Upstairs, Erin grabbed a pair of shorts and a red shirt with a tie in the back and ran into the bathroom. She quickly dry shaved her legs, rubbing some lotion on them quickly before jumping into the new shorts, and throwing on some mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow and a little lip gloss.  
Then, she put on a white bra and her red shirt, smoothing it down her stomach.  
Deciding she would keep her hair in a pony tail, she brushed it out, and walked out of the bathroom, searching for her flip flops.

On the other side of the room, Chris was laying on his bed, going through breathing exercises

Erin looked up for a minute, and then continued her search.  
"Chris, you alright?"

Chris was silent for a minute, staring at the wall across from him.

"Chris?"

"Yeah.." Chris replied gruffly.  
"I'm fine."

Erin snickered.  
"It doesn't sound like it. What's wrong?"

Chris groaned.  
"Nothing." he snapped at her.

Erin looked at him, hurt.  
"Alright. I'm sorry for asking," she said, and left abruptly after finding her flip flops.

She walked downstairs, seeing all the boys deep in conversations on the couches.  
They stopped when she walked down.  
Suddenly, Erin felt like the rabbit amongst the wolves. Out of place. Wrong. Out numbered.

She waved to them hesitantly, grabbed her phone, and walked out the door.

Brandon was waiting for her, leaning against the rail.  
"Hey," he said, and looked her down.  
"Why did you change?" he asked her. "You looked fine."

Erin shrugged.  
"I wanted to." she replied.

Brandon smiled.  
"Well, you still look great." he told her, offering her his arm, which she looped hers through.

"I'll lead you to my cabin," he told her with a grin, and began walking with her.


	9. Chapter 9

It only took a couple minutes for Brandon to lead Erin to him cabin, which was in the distance, bouncing with lights.

He looked over and smiled at her, holding her arm closely through the loop in his.  
"I'm really surprised you came with me." he told her, his brown eyes surveying her without regard for normal rules, exploring her chest, and her waistline.

Erin ignored it. It was dark, so it wasn't like he could see much.  
"Oh. Well, I was getting bored of card games anyways," she told him.

Brandon smiled wider. "I'm even more surprised your bodyguards and your boyfriend let you come."

"My who?" Erin asked.  
"I just met those guys today," she informed Brandon.

Of course, he knew that. It was just part of his game.  
"Oh," Brandon said innocently.  
"I figured that one kid liked you or something."

Erin shook her head.  
"Nuh uh. I just met them." she replied, and stepped onto the porch.

Brandon stepped forward and opened the swinging door for her, and the music immediately started thrumming through Erin's body with pleasure.

"Can you dance?" Brandon asked her, letting his hands enjoy the luxury of her hips, resting and smoothing casually.

Erin nodded. "Can you?" she replied rhetorically, lifted his hands off her waist, and led him into a mosh of people, who were close-knit with their own dancing partner.  
In a couple places, there was a throng of people all squashed together, grinding on each other, girls on girls, guys on girls, all together, sometimes jumping up and down, or dropping to the floor.

Brandon smiled, thanking his lucky stars that he'd decided to wear his under-armour underwear that night that kept his every hair in place.  
Erin slid into a spot that was barely enough for her to stretch her arms out in and pulled Brandon to her slowly, inching her body around and around in a seductress-type way.

Brandon slipped his hands around her waist, focusing on keeping them in the small of her back until she let him move downward.

Slowly, the two danced, Erin snaking her hands around his neck and pulling him toward her occasionally, and letting her lips trace along the tender and tight skin along his neck.

Then, his hands slid to her butt cheeks, and he pulled her into him, closer than she'd been to a guy in her whole life, and it shocked her.  
Erin's body became stiff like rigormortis had entered her body, slowly freezing her from the toes up.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, stiff as a board.

Brandon smiled at her.  
"Relax, baby. I'm just dancing with you," he told her.

Erin looked around.  
All the other girls had hands on their butts.  
But they probably knew the guys.

Erin started to push away from him, and he slid next to her ear, taking his hands off her tush and making fist in the small of her back.

"I'm sorry, baby." he said.  
"I won't do it again." he added, and pushed her hips side-to-side to the rhythm of the music.

Erin tried to relax, but wasn't feeling it. Adrenaline was pumping through her body, making her shake like she'd been almost frozen to death.

"I...I need a..uhm..drink." she said to Brandon, who seemed genuinely caring.

"Alright," he replied, stopping abruptly. "I'll show you." he told her, and led her to a table in the middle of the room separating all the dance-crazed people and the others who either didn't have a dancing partner, or who were taking a break, their faces covered in sweat, and trying to regulate their breathing.

"Here," said Brandon, handing her a cup of ready-poured water.

Erin rolled her finger around the rim dutifully, looked around the cup, and smelled it before she dared setting her lips on it.  
It tasted like tap water.

Satisfied, Erin downed half the cup in one swallow, and lifted it from her lips.  
"Thanks," she said, feeling her body calm down.

Brandon smiled.  
"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." he told her.  
"I just got carried away," he added.  
"And I'm sorry."

Erin nodded.  
"It's fine. You just scared me, I mean....I barely know you." she told him.

Brandon nodded.  
"I know."  
He looked down and played with the hem of his shirt.

Erin thought about it for a moment, standing there with him, observing the people behind him.  
Girls were in huddles, whispering about them, pointing in their direction.

_He was just dancing, Erin..._  
She told herself.  
_It's not like he was trying to get into your pants. So...why don't you just relax, and dance, girl.__  
__You came here to relax, to get to know people, and to have fun. And you do all three here, at this party_.

Erin looked back at Brandon, who was obviously feeling awkward just standing there, waiting for his date, who wasn't comfortable with him.

She put down her drink, which was now only filled with ice, and she wouldn't be needing it any longer.  
Then, she reached forward and grabbed Brandon's hand and laced her fingers with his.

"Come on," she said to him, and pulled him back onto the dance floor.

Brandon, who was thourally confused led her pull him back onto the dance floor.

Then, she pushed her hips into his and snaked her hands around his neck.  
Brandon looked at her out of the corner of his eye.  
Over her back, Carissa was glaring at him.

Carissa was his ex, and she'd signed up to come to Camp Harvey! to see if she could still get with him. She'd cheated on him multiple times before actually sleeping with his so-called best friend. He found out because one of Carissa's friends thought he should know, and it was a big scene where Carissa cried, and tried to get with him again, but he'd just had enough.

So he left her. But of course, she tried every possible way to get back at him, including dating every guy in the school, sending him love notes, getting in trouble because she'd sneaked onto the school overcom and told the whole school that she would kill herself because he broke up with her.

He still remembered a conversation he had in the boys locker room after gym one day after another death message.

"Dude," said Gregg. "You gotta date her again."  
Brandon snorted. "Why?" he demanded.  
"Because...she's too pretty to kill herself."  
Brandon just laughed. "Exactly. She doesn't have the guts to take her life. She knows she's too pretty."  
Gregg looked unconvinced. "Then if she's so pretty, why don't you date her? Any guy would kill to have a hot girl chasing after them like she is doing to you."  
Brandon nodded. "I know. But she's promiscuous. And she's dumb as a doornail."  
Gregg shrugged. "I'd date her." he replied sullenly.  
Brandon nodded. "And you can have that dumb bimbo for a girlfriend. The only thing she wants is your junk."  
Gregg shrugged again. "That's fine with me." he said, putting on his shirt.  
Brandon gave Gregg a look. "Bros before hoes," he said. "Bros before hoes."

Brandon decided to ignore Carissa, and dance with Erin, trying to be as gentleman-like as he could, until Erin grabbed his hands, and pushed them around her body, and pressed her hips against his groin, causing his breathing to become uneven.

I don't want her to get mad at me, thought his good conscience.  
Dude, she's doing it to you. Replied his darker side.  
Don't do it....

------------------

Erin walked off the dance floor, Brandon following close behind, and sat down at a small table.  
"Wow," she said, regulating her breathing.  
"That was so much fun." she told Brandon with a sigh.  
Brandon smiled back at her. "It was, wasn't it?" he replied with a grin.

Erin nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for...I don't know...uhmmm..helping me calm down and loosen up."

Brandon nodded. "Anytime." he replied.  
His eyes then drifted to a figure above her head, and groaned.

Erin saw his eyes alternate to someone above her, and groan, and she turned to see what he was looking at, expecting it to be around 6 in the morning or something.

What she saw instead was a group of girls heading their way, led dominated by a stunning girl with long wavy brown locks, a denim miniskirt and a dangerously low cut top, paired with long pearl earrings, a small silver necklace and strappy silver heels.

Brandon could have died.

The girl walked up to them, and stopped, her posture very offensive

"Hey Brandon," she said sweetly.  
Erin immediately didn't trust her. Her voice was too sweet. Like...over-sweetened lemonade, you just have to pucker your lips and squint your eyes to.

Brandon sat back in his chair, throwing a hand behind his head casually.  
"What?"

The girl tilted her head to the side, and pursed her lips.  
"Aww, baby, I was just saying hi." she said sadly.  
Then, her eyes shifted to Erin, and immediately covered themselves with ice.  
Erin frowned at her.

"So, I see you have a new....friend." she continued.

Brandon rolled his eyes.  
"Carissa, leave me alone," he groaned, and looked away.  
Erin looked at Brandon.  
He obviously would rather be anywhere than here,

Erin looked back at the girl, who shot her a gaze.  
"What? You'd rather hang with your new friend that me, whom you have known for three years?" she demanded.

Brandon looked back at her.  
"Carissa. We broke up. Leave me alone. Dang..."

Erin looked back at Brandon, feeling helpless to say something. It wasn't her battle, but she didn't appreciate the way Carissa was treating both her and Brandon.

Carissa threw some of her hair behind her head.  
"Brandon-baby," she cooed, making Erin cringe.  
"I know we broke up. But we still love each other. And that's okay. Besides, this girl cannot possibly do what I can do to you."

Brandon glared at Carissa.  
"This _girl_ is Erin. And we never did anything, Carissa. Or maybe you got me confused with Eric."

Carissa furrowed her eyebrows.  
"If you want to hang out with this skank, then be my guest." she spat.

Erin's mouth dropped.  
I don't even know this girl...and she just called me a skank.

Carissa looked down at Erin and glared at her.  
Erin just looked back calmly, her mouth back where it should be, until Carissa inched her finger forward, innocently said "Oops," and flicked the corner of Erin's cup, making it fly all over the chair, and her shirt.

Erin, feeling the cold drink hit her bare skin shrieked, and stood up immediately.  
"Carissa!" Brandon screamed, rushing to Erin, grabbing a pile of napkins from the holder on the table, and began to mop up the mess.

Carissa brought a finger to her lips.  
"It was an accident." she replied with a silky-soft voice that made Erin want to vomit.  
"It was your choice, baby. Hang with this soggy...yeah. Or come with me."

Then she left.

Erin watched Carissa leave, wishing she could just rip her pretty brown hair out.  
Brandon stood to her, grabbing her shoulders, and trying to mop up some of the excess soda off her legs and arms.  
"I am so sorry, Erin." he apologized.  
"I knew she would say stuff, but...that was just..."

Erin glared at Carissa, who was where she came from, and looking at her, laughing with her posse.  
"That was just rude." she said flatly.  
Erin walked around Brandon.  
"I'll be right back." she told him.

"Erin?!" Brandon called to her.

Erin only smiled to him, and slipped into a crowd.

Erin walked calmly around a group of girls who were chatting about some guy who was with a new girl on the dance floor. Then, she passed a group of smokers in the corner and wondered if Camp Harvey! had a policy on smoking.  
Finally she made her way around to Carissa's group, and tapped on her shoulder.

Carissa turned around, her pink lip gloss chunked onto her lips, and glittering in the disco light.  
When she recognized her, Carissa groaned.  
"Geez, girl, what do I need to do to get rid of you?" she asked.  
"I mean..Brandon just wants you for your goods." she added, throwing a hand to her hip.

Erin smiled. "I know. And...you're just rude." she said, grabbing a cup from the guy next to her, and promptly stepped up to Carissa, adding, "Just thought I'd let you know, that drink was extremely cold." and then poured the drink down Carissa's cleavage.

Carissa, of course she did, let out a high pitched scream, and the guy Erin had stolen the drink from busted out laughing, causing a ripple effect, and soon enough, everyone in the cabin figured out what Erin had done to Carissa.

Carissa looked up, her face mixed with rage, fury and embarrassment.  
Erin pointed a threatening finger at Carissa.  
"Don't ever do that again," she told her, almost feeling bad for what she did.  
"Okay?" she added rhetorically, and walked back to Brandon.

Brandon just stared at Erin, who gathered her jacket, and cell phone from the table.  
"Take me home?" she asked, and Brandon nodded, and looped her arm through his, giving Carissa one last satisfied smile and walked after his date.

Brandon opened the door for her and pushed a guy with a cigarette out of Erin's way.

"That was....amazing!" Brandon told her.

Erin looked at him.  
"How so?" she asked.  
"All I did was pour some Dr. Pepper down her shirt because she was such a jerk earlier." she added.

Brandon nodded.  
"I know. And it was great."

Erin smiled.  
Once they got to her dorm, she said, "Thanks. For everything. I mean...I enjoyed tonight. Even though that Carly-issa girl ruined it a little a the end."

Brandon took her hand, and brought it to his lips.  
"It was my pleasure." he told her, and kissed her hand.

Erin grinned, leaned forward, and pecked his lips.  
"See you around," she said to him, and walked in the door without a good-bye.  
She turned and locked it quickly, thanking God that the date was over, and she silently promised herself she'd never go out with him again.  
Best to stay away from all the drama she possibly could.


	10. Chapter 10

-- Going back a few hours --

Chris pushed up off his bed as he heard the door slam downstairs.  
Crawling over to the window at the head of his bed, he pushed up two or three of the individual blinds to see Erin, beautiful as ever, linked arm and arm with the Brandon kid.

He watched the two walk away from him, and he sighed, feeling as though his heart was on a string attached to her, and as she walked, she pulled it out, piece by piece.

He waited until Brandon had opened the door to the cabin, staying perfectly still, peeking out from between the blinds.  
Then, Brandon seemed to turn and look straight at him.  
_He can't see me, it's too dark._ He told himself.  
And then Brandon smiled a devil-worthy smile, and limply saluted him before walking inside.

Chris sat back on his bed, fuming at the ego of this kid.  
Who was he, to walk up and steal his girl from his house.

Well, technically, it wasn't his house, and she wasn't his girl.  
At all, actually.

Chris sat back on his bed, recalling the conversation he'd had with the other boys earlier that day.

--

"Hey," Connor said to him, peeking into the room.  
"Ben wants to talk with all of us."

Chris put down his phone and walked downstairs after Connor.

"Good," Ben said. "We're all here."  
Chris sat down.  
"Now, I just wanted to bring something to your attention," he announced with practice.  
Luke nodded.  
"Yeah, we know that." he replied.

Ben rolled his eyes.  
"There's a girl in the house," he continued.  
Mike sighed.  
"Ben, is this all you brought us here for?" he asked impatiently.

Ben continued still.  
"And...she's...very, uhmm..good-looking."  
Connor grunted, standing up.  
"Well, boys, it's been a lovely chat," he said.  
"I guess," he added.

Ben stood in front of him.  
"Sit," he instructed.  
"I asked to talk to you guys, mainly for you," he added.

Connor sat heatedly, crossing his arms with a grimace on his face.

"What I'm getting at, guys, is that..she's going to be with us for...three months. And there's five of us. So...can we make a deal right now that we won't get connected with her, if you get what I mean." he announced.

"You mean..like...like her and stuff?" Connor asked him.  
Ben rolled his eyes. "Yes, twat," he replied gruffly.

Chris shut his eyes.  
He was in trouble now.  
He'd felt something for Erin from the first moment that she'd walked in through the doors. And now, he was going to be asked to not like her.  
Chris lifted his head up and rubbed his head.  
Connor scoffed. "What?"

Chris sighed. "But he's got a good idea," he replied.  
Connor shot him a look.  
"How so?" he demanded.

Chris shrugged.  
"So just in case, there's not a fight about who liked her first, who she likes, the whole deal." he replied.

Luke nodded.  
"I agree." he said.  
"Me too," Mike inputted.

"So, we're all cool with the hands-off thing, right?" Ben said aloud.  
"Shhh, here she comes," said Connor, looking at the stairs.

---

Chris sighed.  
He was getting way too caught up with this girl.  
And to be honest, he didn't know why.  
Sure, she was hot. But she wasn't anything spectacular.  
He'd seen loads of girls with blond hair and blue eyes, her shape, her style.

_But she's different,_ his mind said.  
_She has personality. And she's not a slut._  
_She went out with that Brandon kid_ he told himself.  
_That doesn't make her a slut. I didn't make a move, and someone else did, because she's hot_.

"I can't do this," he said aloud.  
"I can't. I made a deal."  
_What are they going to do if you break it? Beat you up? They'll get kicked out._

Chris sighed again.  
He would start tomorrow.  
Chris chuckled to himself. He was telling himself when he was going to start hitting on a girl.  
How outrageous.

Eventually, the other guys came up the stairs, one by one, to go to bed.  
"Night bud," Ben said to him, the last to crawl up into his bunk.  
Chris didn't reply, pretending to be asleep.  
He was waiting for the door to open once more, to let Erin in.  
His stomach grew queasy at the thought of her.

Hours passed, or so it seemed. the clock screamed 5:24 at him, and he was still up, unable to sleep, wondering what kind of crap Brandon was laying onto Erin.  
He could picture it now:  
Brandon touched Erin's delicate chin with two grimy fingers.  
"I love you, girl." he said, so drunk, he couldn't remember her name.  
Erin scoffed at him.  
"Please, I'm in love with someone else, jerk-head." and she would leave, and come lay in bed with him, just the two of them, alone, asleep, comfortable.

His night day-dream was interrupted when there was a eery creak in the night, and a _click-click_ of the door shutting and a more solid _**scrape-click**_ of the lock being slid into place.  
Chris jumped out from his bunk, and carefully crept to the door, passing through the crack with ease, and padded down the stairs to his love.

---

Erin carefully closed the door, and dead-locked it. She threw her shoes into a corner, and smiled to herself.  
She heard someone coming down the steps, and froze, until Chris emerged from the crevace where the stairs were.

Erin gripped her chest.  
"Oh my goodness, Chris, you scared me," she said, feeling her heart try and beat through her chest.  
Chris smiled at her. "I'm sorry," he said.  
"I just...wanted to come down and make sure you were okay." he told her.

Erin nodded. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.  
Could he know about what happened between her and Carissa?  
Chris shrugged. "That Brandon-kid is a shady character." he told her.  
"What makes you say that?" She inquired.  
Chris shrugged. "He just doesn't seem right." he replied.  
"Like he's got a lot of problems, and doesn't care who gets hurt."  
Erin gave him an observing look.  
"I mean... like he's got...an ex girlfriend somewhere that would like nothing better than to hurt you in anyway she can because she thinks that the kid has done something wrong by her."

_STALKER!!! _her mind screamed at her.  
Erin nodded. "I'm not dating him, or getting with him, Chris." she told him frankly.  
"It was just a party, and he was just a date."  
Chris nodded. "I know....alright. I just wanted to see you upstairs." he said.  
"Why can't we talk here?" Erin asked, confused.  
Chris laughed. "No, as in...follow you upstairs and like...tuckyou in...that sorta thing..." he replied.  
"Of course I wouldn't be tucking you in or anything," he added hesitantly.  
Erin smiled. "Oh," she replied, and tucked a lock of hair behind one ear, and headed up the stairs, with Chris following her.


	11. Chapter 11

Erin felt her conscience slowly lull her away.  
She opened her eyes, and let them dart around habitually for a clock, spotting one above the bunk with Collin and Ben.  
9:47 it blinked at her in red.

Throwing her hands above her head, she stretched, groaning slightly, and then relaxing, putting the covers up over her head, wishing she could go back to sleep.  
But she wouldn't.  
Erin peeped her eyes over the covers and looked around.

Ben slept like a typical boy, head on the pillow, drooling ever so slightly, one leg and one arm draped off the bed.  
He was a belly sleeper.

Luke was more reserved, sleeping with one hand lifted up over his head, and his feet crossed at the bottom of the bed on his back.

Mike was in a weird position, looking cramped. His face was slightly contorted, and Erin could almost feel the pain. His legs were lifted as though he was sitting in a chair, and his head was back as far as his back would let him.

Chris and Connor looked reserved in their sleep.

Yawning, she threw her covers back, and stepped onto the cold floor, feeling the shivers seep in through her socks, which she slept in.  
Then, she got up, and pulled out her suitcase, carefully picking up a package of mini-muffins that she didn't eat on her ride up, and crept downstairs with her MP3 and her book.

Erin looked around the empty room.  
Then, she headed toward the loveseat, got comfy in the corner, plugged in her earphones, and opened her book.

A small while later, a _thump thump thump_ caught her attention over her earphones, and she pulled them out, waiting to see who came downstairs.  
It was Connor, sleepy-eyed and drowsy.  
"What are you doing up this early?" he moaned to her, walking over to the love seat, and finding a seat next to her.

Erin smiled.  
"If you're so tired, go back to bed," she replied with a hint of morning cheeryness.

Connor nodded. "I came down here because you were suddenly out of bed. I'd seen you earlier this morning, like...seven something, and you were still sleeping, and then I wake up again, and BAM you're gone. Don't do that." Connor scolded.

Erin grinned.  
"Yes sir," she replied, and returned to her book.  
Connor leaned over, resting his head on her shoulder.  
"Whatcha reading?" he asked her in a very childish manner.

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," Erin replied.

"What's that?" Connor asked again, still very sleepy.  
Erin sighed. "Read it," she replied.  
"I hate reading," Connor sighed, but read anyway.

The two stayed like that for a good twenty minutes, Connor occasionally complaining because he wasn't done with the second page.  
"I thought you hated to read?" Erin asked him.  
Connor sat up and shrugged, taking the book from her hands.  
"Only if they're dumb books,"

Erin nodded. "Can I have it back?" she asked him politely, but Connor shook his head no.

Erin scoffed. "Why not?" she demanded.  
Connor smiled at her. "Because, I want to read it," he told her, and patted his shoulder, indicating for her to lean on him.

Giving up, Erin obliged him, and leaned over, looping her arm under his so she could make it both more comfortable for him and her.

Connor read at his pace, which was considerably slower than Erin's, so she had time after every page to look around, mostly at Connor.

He was devilishly handsome, with a strong jawline, a prominant chest, and deep greenish hazel eyes.  
He turned the page and Erin sighed, moving her hand across his stomach, resting on his chest.

--

Connor felt Erin's hand snake over across his stomach and up to his pec. The warmth that her hand spread to his chest made his arms errupt in goosebumps.  
He thought about the lecture that Ben had given them.

But then again, he didn't agree with the lecture.  
He'd always been used to going after the girls he wanted, but even though he had dated his good share of girls, they always dumped him after he let them in. After he really let them into the part of his life that was more important than any girl in the world. Art.


	12. Chapter 12 Chris

Chris

I lied in bed for a while after Erin got out. I was going to go down and talk to her.  
Try to convince her that I was the right one.  
If she approached me, kissed me first, it wasn't my fault, right?

I laid there until I felt it was a reasonable time to get up and go and talk to her.  
And guess who had the same idea as me??

That stupid, foul, prep of a bastard, Connor.  
He got right up like he didn't know what was going, looked around, smiled, and got out of bed, and went downstairs.

That stupid...git. That's what he was. A git.  
He took me idea.  
He was with my girl.

How stupid I was for waiting so long.  
I should have gotten up and followed her first chance I had.  
But...she wouldn't be interested in such a stupid boy.  
Right??

Erin

So there we were, sitting on the couch like it was nothing to be cuddling there, reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  
Nothing at all.

Besides, he was arrogant. And I really didn't like anyone. Even Brandon.  
Even though I kissed him last night.  
Well, if you could count that as a kiss.  
It was more of a...daring peck.

It's not like he wasn't asking for it in his head anyway.  
That boy was trying to get me to let him kiss me last night.  
So I'm playing the tease in the game.

How many teases are you playing to how many guys??

Just one.  
Connor is just...here.  
And Chris won't leave me alone.

But...I don't really like Brandon.  
He's...dull.  
And...I shouldn't like Connor either.

But he's so cute.

Oh, what am I going to do?

Connor

She's lying on my chest.  
Well, sort of.  
But she's not complaining.  
And she's not talking about her night last night with that dirty rat.

Maybe I should ask her about it.  
It would be...a show of care.  
She might like it.

What, am I trying to get with her??  
_Yes._  
That's not the point.  
_No, it's not_.  
So what's the point?

I finished the page I was on, completely not comprehending anything I read.  
Who cared??  
Erin was laying on me, and her hand just moved from beside her hip to around my arm.  
And I like it. :)

I had to make a move.  
I had to say something.  
I had to seem like I cared. Which I did. But I wanted her to know.

I folded the corner of the page, and closed the book.  
Erin looked up at me expectantly.  
"So," I began after taking a deep breath.  
"How was your date last night??"

I guess Erin had to think about it, because she rolled her eyes to the right side of her head, and hugged to my arm.  
I liked that. A lot.

"Uhmm...it wasn't really a date," she started, and I laughed.  
"Yes it was, Erin. He walked over and asked you to accompany, or be his _date_ to a party. It was a date."  
Erin rolled her eyes around in their sockets.

"Well," she said, and sighed.  
"I guess it was fun, for the most part. I mean, it was a dance for the most part, and there were a lot of people there, and I didn't know any other them, including the guy I was with."

I nodded, showing her I understood, and I leaned back into the couch, letting me hand rest easy on her uncovered hip.

"Anyway," she continued, and I grinned.  
"Brandon, I guess, has a girlfriend that is...upset that they broke up and she walked up and started calling me names and telling him she was here if he needed her and stuff, calling me a skank and stuff."

My eyebrows met in the middle.  
"She called _you_ a skank??" I asked her.

Erin looked up at me.  
"Yeah. I don't know why either. I was just dancing."

I nodded. "Ignore people like that." I advised her.  
Then, she giggled at me, and it threw me off guard.  
"What?"

"I took care of her."  
"How so?" I asked her.

"Well, she _accidentally_ dumped a drink on me. So I walked up, explained to her that I didn't appreciate her attitude, and I _accidentally_ dumped some Dr. Pepper down her shirt."

I gaped at her.  
"You _**what**_?" I asked.

Erin nodded. "I know. Totally not me, but...it aggravated me."

I was amazed, actually.  
Carissa was a...well...a jerk, but put it nicely.  
She took and took and took without caring.  
It wouldn't have surprised me if she slept with just about all the guys in the camp, and they kept coming back to camp for her, specifically.

But no one had ever really stood up to Carissa before.  
Silly to think of, but seriously, they never really did.  
Girls just...put up with her.

I guess that was all about to change.  
Mostly because Carissa never took any embarrassment easily.  
And because Erin didn't seem like the kind of girl to put up with someone else's crap.

I was just about to congratulate her when Chris appeared at the base of the stairs, looking extremely ticked off.


	13. Chapter 13

Chris stared at Connor for a moment, and then slipped into the room.  
"What are you guys doing?" he asked his voice going curiously up in pitch instead of down.  
He was enraged.  
He peeked over the book to see the cover, and Erin just stared at him.  
"We were reading, actually," she said, still leaning into Connor. "Problems?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Chris shook his head. "No," he said, his voice cracking.  
Erin pursed her lips, and she could tell Chris wanted nothing more than to rip her away from Connor, and before she could see the middle of a fight, she excused herself and got up to go get dressed.  
She was met by the other three boys on their way down, not looking too particularly pleased.

"Morning," she said to them, trying to lighten their mood.  
"Morning," Mike returned. He was the only one who seemed halfway alert that she'd greeted them.  
Ben looked scary, his dark features drawn taught by clenched jaws.

Erin turned and jumped up the stairs, being extra quiet so she could hear anything that might be interesting that would happen.

---

Ben stood, tall and wide, in front of Connor who was seated calmly on the couch, book in hand.  
Ben crossed his arms. "What are you doing, man??" he demanded, his voice low and deep.

Connor shrugged. "Reading, I guess." he offered, and held up the book, the other hand reaching behind his head to scratch it.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Man, you don't read." he accused.  
Connor pushed his head out as if to say, _'And...?'_

"Look, Connor. We had a talk. We're leaving Erin alone. No one..."  
"You guys talked about that, yeah," Connor interrupted.  
"But...I don't agree with what you guys are telling me. Why are you gonna be able to tell me what to do? You don't know me, and I don't know you." he stated.

Ben groaned, and clutched his head with both hands, frustrated.  
"Man, you just don't _get_ it, do you? If you go after her, you're going to start a cabin/camp war. Brandon already made a move, you've made a move, it's just time 'til Chris makes a move....I don't know how stupid you can get." he said.

Connor laughed.  
"A camp war?" he asked, snorting. "That sounds like a parent trap scene." he told him.

Ben gritted his teeth.  
"Fine, you do whatever. I'm done trying to reason with you guys. I'm not saving your rear when you get into a hole deeper than your shovel is long."

Connor rubbed his head. "Quit talking in metaphors, you're giving me a headache." he complained.  
"It would give you a headache," Chris snapped, and Connor just ignored him.

Ben walked out of the cabin, followed by Mike and Luke, who seemed indifferent to the whole issue.

Connor looked at Chris.  
"So....you're the one starting all this crap?" he asked curiously.  
Chris glared at Connor. "Just stay away from Erin, kay." he stated. It wasn't a request.

Connor snorted. "Are you her keeper?" he snapped, and stood up, putting the book on a shelf on the wall.  
"No. But...just stay away from her." Chris repeated, trying to sound menacing.  
Connor snorted. "Yeah. I'll remember that, puff-ball," he shot at Chris, and left the room, walking out to the back porch to sit in one of the chairs to get away from Chris.

"Yes!" Chris whispered, and took off up the stairs to his beloved.

Erin was in the bathroom, brushing her hair.  
"Hey Erin," Chris breathed.  
Erin looked at him, and then back into the mirror.  
"Hello Chris," she replied.

"So...what are you doing today?" he asked her, leaning against the bed post.  
Erin shrugged, putting the brush down, and pulling her hair back into a pony-tail. "I dunno," she replied. "I was thinking about swimming or something. Bumper cars...something." she suggested.  
"Oh, that's great." Chris replied.  
"Want me to go with you?" he offered.  
Erin shrugged. "That's fine." she replied. "I was going to ask Connor too," she added.

Chris scowled. "Oh, really? He told me he was going to do mini-golf today." he lied.  
Erin looked out at him. "Really? Well, we can do that too, I guess." she shrugged, and turned off the light to the bathroom, walking out to her bed to put her cosmetics bag away.

"OH....well, I thought you wanted to do the pool." Chris said, trying to seem confused.  
Erin shrugged again, getting annoyed. "I don't really care what I do." she said. "I wanted to hang out with Connor today, though."

"Oh my gosh!!," Chris thought, rolling his eyes. Was he ever going to get some alone time?

"Hmmm...Well...I guess that would be fine," he agreed.  
Erin smiled. "Glad you think so," she said.  
Chris nodded. "Me too." he groaned and followed Erin out of the room.

Erin

_Oh my gosh, why is he still following me!?!?!_ I screamed in my head.  
He just wouldn't leave me alone.  
I heard every word that they said down in the living room.  
There was some kind of....pact thing. And it was about me. To stay away from me.  
How rude.

But I didn't want to stay away from Connor. I enjoyed his company. He gave off a very masculine aura and it made me feel comfortable.  
Chris' aura was just whiney and annoying lately.

I went down the stairs as fast as I could, and looked for Connor.  
He wasn't on the couch where he was before.  
I would've left the cabin looking for him, but something came into and caught my attention out of my peripheral vision.

It was his bobbing head, going back and forth with the rocking chair.  
He was on the back porch.  
Before Chris could try and force me out of the house, I went for the back door, and thrust it open.  
It slammed against the wood behind it, startling Connor, who jumped slightly in his chair.

I giggled.  
He smiled. "Hey, about time," he told me without a trace of anger in his voice.

I tilted my head. "Why?" I asked.  
Connor stood up. "I was beginning to lose my temper." he informed me.  
"Come with me," he added, took me by the wrist and led me back into the cabin.

He stopped when he met up with Chris, who was following me, and pointed a finger at his chest.  
"Leave us alone," he threatened his brown eyes wide so Chris could evaluate just how serious Connor was.

He seemed to get the message, because halfway up the stairs yet again, I heard the front door slam, shaking everything in the cabin, including the rafters.

"Oh, my GOD that guy is such a nuisance!" he half-yelled, letting himself fall onto my bed. I stayed standing up.  
"What was all that talk about down their earlier??" I asked him, crossing my arms.

Connor looked down his chest at me. "You heard all that?" he asked me rhetorically, and sat up with a sigh.  
"Ben designed this master plan that because you were the only girl in the cabin with five other boys, that we'd stay away from you, not try to 'get with you', and stuff. But neither Chris, nor I like that little master plan."

"Why?" I asked him, curious as to how he would explain himself.

"Well," Connor started, laying back down, pulling a pillow behind his head.  
"I shouldn't have to listen to some huge black dude who thinks he can control everything, and Chris is going to go after you regardless. He's like...obsessed with you."

I rolled his eyes. "Don't exaggerate." I reprimanded him.

"I'm not!" Connor swore.  
"Last night, he stared out the window until you came back. And then like three seconds after you got in the door, he jumped out of bed to go and confront you."

"And why were you awake?" I asked him suspiciously.

Connor grinned. "Three reasons. First, Ben kept farting, and it was repulsive. Second, he kept mumbling under his breath and it was waking me up because I'm a light sleeper..."  
I gave him a look.  
"I am, I swear!" he said defensively.  
I motioned for him to go on.  
"And three, because I went to sleep anxious because Brandon is bad news, period, end-of-statement, and I kept waking up."

I nodded, satisfied.  
"So, why don't you comply with the agreement?" I asked him.

He gave me a dark, seductive look. "Are you kidding me?" he asked.  
I shook my head.  
Then, he sat up.  
"Well, for starters, you're really attractive. I'm not even going to lie."

I felt blood rush to my cheeks unwillingly.

"Second...I don't know. I just...don't want to stay away. You're a great person to be around. You make me feel okay. Like, it's alright to be Connor Bishop." he said.

I smiled, and sat down with him.  
"It _is_ alright to be Connor Bishop with me," I reassured him, and hugged him around the waist.


	14. Chapter 14

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Connor stared down at the top of Erin's head that was on his chest, her hands around his waist. Her smell permeated the air, and wafted up to him. It was like heroine to him, flowery with a tinge of girly fruitiness.  
_Oh God,_ he thought as he hugged her back.

He was getting in way too deep with this girl.  
Everything about her made his stomach drop.

The way her lips curled around her teeth when she smiled, how her deep blue eyes scanned the room, observing the guys as they talked.

The way she did a little jig-like dance when she was excited.  
The way her skin rolled around her body, tan and freckled.  
The way her long, stocky legs stood out against her short torso.

The way her hair flowed around gently.

The way she looked at him.

It was like there was something more.  
Like she felt like he did, that they could get to know each other so much better.  
If only this roommates wouldn't intervene.

Stupid plan.

He leaned into the hug, and without thinking, he kissed her head, and rested his own on hers.  
It felt good to just be with a girl again. Not romantically, at least, not yet anyway. It felt good to hold another person, to whom he was attracted to. Someone who was almost significantly smaller than he, in almost everyway.

----

Erin stared at the wall behind Connor.  
It was almost an effort for her, because she had to stand up on the tips of the tips of her toes in order to let her chin touch his shoulder.  
Finally, she gave up after he pulled her closer, and let her head relax on his chest.

She could hear his heart beat, and it was steady, strong, and gently increasing.

She saw his face out of the very corner of her eye when she looked up, and saw that his beautiful hazel-grey eyes were closed, his cheek on her hair.

Then, he sighed, moved his face, and kissed her head.

Erin smiled to herself.

----

The two must have stayed there for a good three minutes, until a group of girls walked by the front of the cabin in the street, laughing boisterously.

Connor pulled her away from him, and stared her in the eyes. "Thank-you," he told her with a genuine smile.  
Erin's head naturally tilted to the side, and she flashed him a toothy grin. "Anytime." She quipped.

Connor caught himself thinking of all the different ways he could kiss her. He could tilt her backwards and kiss her neck, or just take her head in his hands, and pull her to him.  
He could slowly lean forward and stare at her lips, letting her know what he wanted, and she could choose to respond in her own way.

Or he could just lean forward and kiss her passionately.

_No..._

Connor stepped away from her and the temptation that was getting to him, and walked over to the door.  
"What are we doing today?" he asked her, staring out the window, trying to get rid of the thoughts that had invaded his mind.

Erin shrugged. "I dunno. We could do anything," she replied.

Connor smiled. "Well, I know that. But…what do you _want_ to do?"

Erin's lips scrunched up on the side of her mouth. "We could….knit?" she replied sarcastically, making Connor chuckle.  
"I bet Ben is there right now, and he's a little bit mad at me. So…what's your next choice?"

Erin sighed, and blew air out of her mouth. "Uhmm…what is there to do?"  
Connor walked back to her. "Well, there are bumper cars, knitting," he told her, giggling. "There's…the gym, where they have like…checkers and soccer and football and volleyball, and next to that is the inside pool, and they have the diving board there and polo. At the outside pool, they just chill. Uhmm...there are art classes, and..."  
"What about swimming?" Erin asked, feeling the color in her cheeks tone and change to a rusty rose. She let her eyes drift down his chest and back up to his eyes quickly.

Connor shrugged. "Alright," he replied with a shrug. "You want to get dressed first?" he asked.  
Erin nodded. "Sure," she replied, and smiled at him before running up the stairs to grab her swimsuit and lock herself in the bathroom.

Quickly shedding her clothes, she slipped into her orange bikini, and tugged her shorts back on.  
She gave herself a quick look over in the mirror. Any make-up she would put on would smear and rub all over her face once she got into the water, so that was a no-go. She couldn't do anything with her hair, because it would, too, would be ruined by the chorine water.  
She sighed, and put her hands on the counter, staring at her reflection.  
Right about now, she was wishing she would've gone for the checkers idea.

With another sigh, she stood up, and walked out of the bathroom, and shrieked.

Connor jumped from one foot to the other, and fell onto the bed, hitting his hands on a top bunk, which he was using to put a shirt over his head.  
"Ouch!" he moaned, retracting his hands immediately, and putting his fingers in his mouth.

Connor had frightened Erin. He wasn't supposed to be in the room, and there he was in his swim trunks and bare skin. His head was covered by the shirt which he had been in the process of putting on when she let out the shriek, and it in turn scared him, making him lose his balance.

Erin groaned, and put a finger in her mouth, rushing forward to Connor. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she told him  
Connor looked at her, the shirt halfway down his arms, all ten fingers stuffed in his mouth. "Isth oquaay," he mumbled at her, trying not to smile.  
Erin pouted, sticking her lower lip out, not knowing what to say.

Connor gave his fingers one last suck, and took them out of his mouth. "It's fine," he told her, and smiled, standing up.

The white t-shirt slid down to his wrists, and Erin caught a glance of his rippled tan skin on his stomach, and it reminded her that she, too, was shirtless.

She rushed to her suitcase, ripped open a new pack of white undershirts, and threw one over her bare stomach.

She knew she would be shirtless and bottomless in front of him later. He'd be able to see her in only a bathing suit. But she had no idea why it bothered her now.

Connor smiled at her. "Sorry I scared you," he told her. His shirt was on now.  
Erin laughed. "I'm sorry too," she replied.

"You ready?" he added.

Erin grabbed her phone off it's charger, and nodded. "Yeah."

They took Erin's car down to the pool, deciding that they didn't want to walk the two miles, half up-hill to the pool.

"Nice car," Connor told her when he got in.  
Erin smiled. "Thanks," she said, and giggled as he buckled his seatbelt.  
"What?" he asked, confused.  
Erin pulled out of the drive-way, and headed down the gravel road.

"The speed limit is ten miles per hour. Nothing is going to happen." She said, and pushed the car to go eleven.  
"Oh, oh, look at that. It's eleven. We're gonna die," Connor pointed at her speed-o-meter dramatically.

Erin snorted. "Sorry," she replied sarcastically, and slowed down until she was under ten.

"So, the outside pool, or the inside??" asked Connor.  
Erin shrugged. "I don't know, eeny-meeny-miney-moe it." She told him.  
She turned a corner. "But do it fast," she added, gesturing to the sign that led them in different directions.  
"Outside," Connor replied quickly, and Erin veered left.

Erin passed a group of girls, boldly walking around in nothing but their bathing suits, and she felt the pounds on her hips that she'd been gaining after she'd stopped running about two weeks ago and the heat in her cheeks rose again.

_Why on earth did I agree to get into this stupid thing??_ She screamed at herself, gripping the steering wheel nervously.

When they got to the pool, Erin cut off her AC first, and then shut off the engine, sitting back in the seat for a minute.  
Connor waited patiently for her. "You okay?" he asked her.

Erin nodded. "Just…some insecurities." She replied.

Connor scoffed. "About what?" he demanded.  
Erin looked around. "Uhmm...nothing. It's nothing." She replied, and opened her door, getting out promptly.  
Connor followed suit, and opened the back door to get his towel and shorts. "You know you look great, right?" he asked her.  
Erin faked a smile, knowing he was catching onto her disagreement. "Thanks," she replied indifferently.  
"You don't believe me?" he asked her.

Erin grimaced, her mouth becoming a straight line. She shook her head. "No," she replied flatly.

Connor leaned across the backseat, and pulled her by the shoulder strap. "Believe me. You look great." He told her, his face only centimeters it seemed away from her face.

Erin stared into his grey-green-hazel eyes, still unsure exactly what color they were.  
She couldn't disobey him now. He's get mad. And he seemed genuinely serious.  
Erin shrugged, grabbed her bag with sunscreen in it, along with her towel and flip-flops, and closed the door, clicking the lock button.  
The car beeped twice for her.

They walked into the pool area together, and Erin's stomach dropped the second she saw them.  
A group of beautiful girls, whose make-up didn't smear when it got wet, their hair was down and dry, impossibly dry to be in a pool, and they were all wearing bikinis, all beautifully tanned, and all popularly skinny.  
She sighed, and followed Connor to a table for the two of them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Carissa, the girl from the party the night before, and she groaned.  
Connor looked behind him at her with a confused look.  
Erin shook her head, and set her stuff on the table.

"You…don't want to be here, do you?" Connor asked her, shoving his hands in his trunk pockets.  
Erin looked up at him.  
Should she tell him the truth? Should she tell him that she felt completely out of place with him and completely unsure about herself, like she'd never been about herself in her life? Should she tell him that she didn't think she was good enough for him?

Erin shook her head. "I'm fine." She replied. "I just saw a girl that doesn't particularly like me, and I was hoping she wasn't going to recognize me, but after last night, I would expect her to," she replied blandly, taking out her sunscreen.

Connor looked around casually, and caught her meaning.  
"You want to leave?" he asked her.

Erin shook her head. "No, it's really not a big deal. She'd be stupid to mess with me here," She replied, wishing that what would really come out of her mouth was, 'let's go paint or something?'

But of course, she was too wimp to let this kid who she'd only known for a day or so down.

She had SUCKER writing straight across her forehead.

Erin put her stuff on a table, and hid her phone in her bag, and looked at Connor, who sat down.  
"You don't want to go swimming?" she asked him blandly.  
Connor frowned at Erin. "No, because something's wrong with you." He replied.

Erin was shocked by his statement.  
"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting in a chair beside him, trying to stall as long as she could so she could keep her shirt on.

Connor gave her a long, interrogating look. "You're kidding, right?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Erin replied with her own silence, and a cross look his way.  
Connor shrugged. "About five minutes ago, you were all ready to go swimming, and you chose. Now, it's like you're repulsed to go with me." He told her openly.

_It's not you, it's me._

"So, I'm just trying to understand what's going on." He told her.

_There's a bunch of insanely beautiful girls here, and you're worried about me being upset._

Erin sighed. "Nothing. It's nothing. I was just…preoccupied. I'm sorry," she told him, giving up.

Connor gave her a wary look, and leaned back into his chair defiantly.  
Erin's lips went to the side of her mouth, and in rebellion, she stood up, unbuttoned her shorts, and they fell down to her ankles.  
She hid a smirk as she watched Connor's eyes, head, and body follow them.  
She crossed her arms, grabbed the hem of her boys t-shirt, and lifted it up off of her head.  
She could almost feel his hot gaze on her skin, and she shivered in spite.

Connor stood up, his eyes lingering as long as possible on her mid-section until he was standing erect, and he returned his gaze to her eyes.  
"That's more like it," he grinned, and grabbed her hand, leading her out to the pool.

Erin led herself be led away, wishing she'd brought a one-piece. Much more comforting.

Connor stopped at an area that was relatively abandoned in the deep-end.  
"Can you swim?" he asked her, staring down into the water.  
Erin peered cautiously over the edge. "Yes," she replied. "Why?"

"Just because," he said, and leaped off the edge, Erin's hand grasped firmly in his, and she fell in after him, letting out a shriek.

Water rushed around her body, immediately soaking her body with warm chlorine, and she opened her eyes underwater, and saw Connor just below her, kicking for the surface.

Erin followed him, her body streamlined.

When she broke the surface, Connor was laughing at her, pushing water-soaked hair out of his multi-colored eyes.

Erin leaned her head back in the water to make her hair go out of her face, and she brought it back up, treading water the entire time.

"You are a good swimmer, aren't you?" Connor said to her rhetorically.

Erin shook her head to the side twice, trying to get water out of her ear. "A good thing too, otherwise, you'd have to save me."

Connor grinned. "So…" he said, pushing himself up in the water using only his legs. "I'm pretty sure by now that you don't have a boyfriend."

Erin grinned. "That, as well, is a good thing that I don't." she said to him, swimming around him slowly.  
"Why is that?" he asked her.

Erin laughed. "Because I like you, silly." She told him, took a deep breath, and dove underwater.

After a little while, Erin got used to the idea of being in a bathing suit, and eventually forgot about her insecurity worries and enjoyed being herself around Connor.  
They started a splashing fit, which caused people around them to start one, and pretty soon, lifeguards were blowing their whistles to stop massive splashing that was getting the pavement eight feet away from the pool wet.

Erin pulled herself out of the pool, followed by Connor, and walked towards her table, dripping the entire way.  
She grabbed her towel, and wiped off her face, grabbing Connor's and throwing it to him as he walked up, who in turn wiped his own face, and then scrubbed his hair.

"That was fun," Connor told her with a smile, and threw the towel over his shoulders.

Erin smiled at him. "It was," she replied, and sat down to wipe off her legs.  
"You wanna go sit in the chairs over there?" he asked her, pointing to an area with lounge chairs that went all the way back.

Erin nodded. "Yeah, sure. Let me put on sunscreen first," she said, and bent over to wipe the excess water off her legs.  
"Why?" Connor asked, noticing her lightly tanned skin.

"So I don't get sunburned…" Erin replied as though it was the easiest question in the world.

Connor sat down, confused. "Do you burn?" he asked.

Erin touched the skin on her arm. "This isn't my normal skin color." She told him, and pulled aside the strap to her bikini, and a very white patch shone out.  
"Wow," Connor mumbled.  
Erin smiled. "I go outside a lot. You know, soccer and track and stuff." She said.  
"You kinda have to get sunburned sometime, and overtime, I just got dark. It's a lot easier to do this than get a burned tan. It just takes longer," she told him expertly, wiping off any more water she could find, and fanned herself with a laminated sheet of pool rules that was at each table.

Once she was satisfied, she opened the cap, and squirted a large amount of SPF 50 into her palm, and evenly distributed some to each ligament of her body, and coated her belly and neck.

After she rubbed it all in, she looked up at Connor helplessly.  
"Get my back?" she asked him, and offered him the bottle.

Connor scooted closer, and squirted some into his hand, rubbed them together, and pressed them to her back, making two large, white handprints on her back, and he laughed a little when Erin shivered.

_Come on, dude, and get serious._

Connor smoothly applied the white SPF, making sure he got her shoulders, and under the straps to her bathing suit and under her arms.

Finally, and unfortunately, when there was nothing more to spread, he tapped her lightly, and stood up.

"Come with me, my darling, and we'll skip to my lou?" he asked.  
Erin laughed. "You're so corny," she replied, and stood up, grabbing her shades, and tucked the bottle of sunscreen away inside her bag.

"So." Connor said after getting comfortable on his chair.  
"So." Erin replied, her sunglasses on her nose.

"So…you said you liked me." He told her cautiously.  
Erin smiled. "I did, didn't I?' she asked.

_She's such a tease,_ Connor thought.

"Yes."  
"Hmmmm."

"So…what did you mean by that?"

Erin sniffed. "That…you're really nice, and I like your company, and I like you…" Erin told him.

"Ah, okay," Connor replied, hiding his disappointment.  
"So, where are you from?"  
"Tucson, Arizona." Erin replied promptly. "You?"

Connor scratched his back. "Well…I'm from pretty much all over the place. We move a lot."  
"I'm in the military too," Erin replied. "Well, my dad is, anyway."

Connor smiled. "We're not military." He told her, and Erin tilted her head.

_There go her lips again…_  
Erin's lips went to the side of her mouth again.

"So…your parents are divorced or something?" she asked.

Connor shook his head. "No…we just...go places. Dad is a realtor inverter person, and goes to real estate businesses all over the U.S to help them with their financial stuff, and gets paid big bucks."  
Erin didn't seem convinced.  
"I don't know exactly what he does. I stopped caring when he got mad because I didn't understand anything he was saying. So my mom and I just nod out heads and eat dinner while he explains how real estate businesses are going down all over the country, and that we're going to be in big trouble if people like him don't know what they're doing in life."

Erin nodded.

"Anyway, he makes like…1,000 dollars a day, if it's a bad day, so…we have a bit of extra money laying around."  
Erin's eyes popped. "Seriously?? I don't think anyone makes that kind of money," she told him, doubting every word he's just said.

Connor shrugged. "Dad's dad got him in the business, and yeah, he makes that kind of money."  
"So you're filthy rich?" Erin asked curiously.  
Connor let his finger shake at her lightly. "No. My father is. I'm just a dependant." He replied.  
Erin shrugged. "Fair enough. So, where are you from originally, Connor Bishop?"  
Connor sighed, leaning back, and putting his arms behind his head.  
"I was born in Maryland eighteen years ago, lived there for like…three years, I think. Then my dad went to work in Kentucky, and then three months later, we packed up again and went to Montana. A year later, we moved back to Kentucky, but to the opposite side of the state, and then we went around New England, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, to Pennsylvania and Ohio…so on and so forth like that for fifteen years.  
When I was sixteen, dad moved here, to California, and we've stayed here for a while." Connor finished.

Erin had a hard time following his story. "I'm sure that's hard to remember." She said to him.  
Connor shrugged, and turned onto his side. "People ask so much, I have to recite it, and I used to forget so much, so I'd tell them to ask me the next day after I went home and tracked it all down on a map."

"Ah," Erin replied.

"So, enough about me, what about you?" Connor said, searching for her eyes under the sunglasses.

Erin smiled.  
So he was interested in her. And he wanted to know about her, get inside her head.  
Suddenly the sun seemed really to burn her stomach, so she turned over on her stomach, her head turned toward Connor.

His face was on her, a goofy grin on his face.  
But all the same, his attention was all on her, completely and undistracted.  
So maybe he didn't think any of those other girls were appealing.  
_Ha, unlikely. Unless he's gay, _  
Erin giggled to herself.

"I am from Tucson, Arizona, born and raised." She told him with a stretch.  
"Oh," Connor said. "Thus why you're lightly tanned," he confirmed.  
Erin shrugged. "I suppose. You should see me in the winter. It's like a white Christmas."  
Connor snickered. "Is that so?" he asked.  
Erin nodded. "It is. You really should see it." She replied, laughing too.

Connor became oddly quiet. "I'd like to," he said, not to her, but more to himself out loud.

Erin cast him a sideways look, her head now facing in front of her. "You would?" she asked.

Connor tilted his head from side to side. "Yes." He said.

The sun was shining outside.

People were in the pool, laughing and having a great time.  
It was the beginning of the summer, and all these kids were at summer camp for the next three months.  
There were going to be heartbreaks and homesickness, frantic calls home, and frantic calls to the next cabin.  
There were going to be fights, new friendships, and broken friendships.  
\But for two people at that moment in time, there was nothing else but each other.

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	15. Chapter 15 flashback

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* * *

…A little while ago…

Chris slammed the door behind him, then raced around to the blind side of the cabin, and crouched among the wild honeysuckle bushes, pushing blooms out of his face.

He had to find out what they were going to do.  
He had to make sure Connor didn't take his girl somewhere.

_My girl...why do I keep calling her that? She's not my girl. She's not my girl. But she will be._

What seemed like decades later, Connor and Erin came out of the house, and his mouth nearly dropped.  
Connor was in his swim trunks and Erin had on a pair of shorts and a white wife-beater.  
Chris scowled, wishing he could jump out from behind the bushes.  
But then it would seem like he was stalking them.  
Which he was, technically, but that was beside the point.

"Nice car," Connor said, with a smile on his face.  
_Nice car…_Chris mocked him with his face distorted.  
Then, the two were in the car, and Connor buckled his seatbelt.  
Chris sighed, wishing he could just get up and punch the stupid…prep boy in his face.  
That would serve him right for making a move on his girl.

_She's not my girl; she's not my girl…_

"Craaappp…" Chris muttered as Erin took off, and Chris leapt out of his crouch straight into a run, knowing he was going to be limping later because he'd stretched his hamstrings.

He followed at a sprint, huffing and puffing to catch his breath as Erin sped up continually.

He kept to the side of the road, not daring to take his eyes off the rear view mirror, just in case she happened to look up for some reason, and if she did, he could veer off to the side and keep running without her seeing him.

Suddenly, the car started slowing down, and he was getting way too close. If Connor looked in the side window, he's see him, so Chris slowed down, and his legs protested angrily.

After she'd found a comfortable speed, Chris continued on his normal pace, which was a flat out sprint.

He looked at the gravel road, watching his feet fly and kick up dust.  
When he looked up, Erin's head jerked, and he over-reacted, and he veered over to his left, eyes never leaving the rear-view mirror.  
It turned out she was only looking at Connor, and then, he fell.

Tumbling, twisting and falling all at the same time, Chris crash landed onto the hard, compact earth floor, and with a cloud of dust, he finally stopped.

Groaning, he looked up just in time to see the car go left, and out of sight.

Chris rolled onto his back in pain, and looked up at the trees that canopied the open space.  
He let his hand feel around to his back, and he moaned at the spasm that crept from his tailbone to his neck, and his hamstring was buzzing for attention.

"God, I'm STUPID!" he yelled, causing his back to spasm more.

He laid there for a couple more minutes.  
Taking off after Erin now would be pointless, painful, and it wasn't worth it.  
If she liked Connor, so be it. _  
But I'm not going to stand around and let him have all the fun._

Erin was everything he wanted in a girl.  
Drop-dead gorgeous with beautiful, long, blond hair. Bright, big green eyes, cute little button nose, tall figure, rockin' body, tan skin…everything.

And if he didn't try to win her over, then he was stupid.

No, he was beyond stupid. His brain would've been like mashed potatoes.

Holding in a cry, he rolled over, and tried to push himself off the ground, but his brain wouldn't let him, and he stayed on the ground.  
A couple people walked over to him, carefully treading around him like he was a hurt animal.  
Chris looked over at them.  
"Are you alright?" called the first girl with brown hair pulled into two braids on either side of her head.  
Chris grunted. "Yeah," he replied, closing his eyes, wishing he were anywhere but where he was.

"Dude…why were you chasing that car??" asked a surfer dude with a brown bowl cut.

Chris ignored him. "Don't worry about it. Help me up?" he said, sitting up and extending a hand to the guy.  
The guy leaned forward, grasped Chris' hand, and gently helped him up, while Chris bit his tongue to hold back a cry of pain.

When he was erect, he slowly relaxed his muscles, starting with his shoulder blades, which were as high as his ears.

Then, he made his way down to his stomach and thighs, which he decided, hurt the most.  
"You going to be okay?" asked the girl.  
Chris nodded, and slowly took the first agonizing step back to his cabin.

It hurt from his calf to his neck, but he sucked it up, and took another step. And another. And another.

Chris looked up at the people who came to help him, then past them, and searched for his cabin.

D-13 was only a little less than a half a mile away, and he could clearly see the lettering on the front of the cabin, but his eyes seemed to glaze over, and made it look like it was days away.

Chris boldly took another step and another and another until he was back on the road.

Every step felt like his hips were being displaced, and his spine was swaying from side to side in his back.

He sucked it up, bit his tongue, and continued.

After another twenty feet, he tasted the iron in his blood from biting his tongue so hard. He found a different place, and bit it, and kept moving.

The people who had found him left cautiously, keeping an eye on him just in case he fell again.

But Chris knew he wouldn't fall. He might stumble a bit. But he wouldn't fall.

He made his way to the first cabin on his way to his own, and grabbed a hold of the railing on their porch to hold himself up.  
Breathing heavily, he focused on ignoring the pain, but it didn't work.

He'd taken health classes at school, and he knew that the brain needed a distraction to make all the other pain to go away.  
His brain needed a more focused pain, like a broken hand, where everything was in one place, not spread out.

Chris came up to a stump and swung his leg into a stump, yelping, and gritting his teeth feeling the fresh throbbing pain in his foot. It was definitely a distraction. The rest of his body didn't hurt quite so bad anymore, and slowly, step by step, Chris made his way back to his cabin, and shut himself inside.

----

Erin stared at Connor through her sunglasses, thankful for the non-see-through lenses she'd been so picky about getting.  
He wanted to see her.  
He wanted to keep talking to her outside of camp.  
Meaning, he wanted to stay in contact.  
And that might mean…she wouldn't think of that yet. Too risky. And it might get her hopes up.

"So uhm…" Erin mumbled, searching for something to talk about.  
There was so much she could ask him.  
But of course, like always, she couldn't think of anything at the top of her head.  
Luckily, Connor was better at that than she was.

"So, how old are you?" he asked.  
"Seventeen." Erin replied.  
"So you're a junior?" he asked her, tuning around on his back.

Erin shook his head. "I'm a senior." She replied.  
"Oh," Connor said, surprised. "You're kinda young, aren't you?"  
Erin shrugged. "I started school early," she replied casually.  
"How come?" Connor asked her.  
"I was in California at the time."  
"So I'm guessing your dad is in the military." Connor assumed.  
"He was." Erin agreed.  
"Was?"

Erin nodded. "Yeah, he was...uhm…honorably discharged." She replied, fiddling with the material of her bathing suit.  
"Ah." Connor said. "Mind if I ask why?"  
Erin stopped in mid-swallow. It was suddenly hard for her to do anything. Her breathing became mysteriously labored, and her vision went in and out.  
"Uhm..." Erin replied hesitantly.  
The subject of her father was a serious one in her household, and was rarely discussed, even within the home.  
Her mother would occasionally yell, "You wouldn't do this if your father were here," just to get some leverage on her two aging children and it was always a blow that incapacitated them both.

"Well, my father died." She informed him, almost not being able to say the words.  
Connor's whole attitude toward their conversation changed. "Oh, wow. I'm sorry," he said sorrowfully.  
Erin nodded. "It's not your fault," she told him with a fake smile.  
Connor nodded. "I'm sorry I brought it up."  
Erin shrugged. "It's fine. I'll never get over it if I don't talk about it, I guess."

"When…when did he…you know...when did it happen?"

Erin had to think about it.  
"A year and a half ago." She replied. "He was tortured by the Iraqi Al-Qaeda people."

Connor grew stiff and she knew he was embarrassed for asking any more of her.  
They were silent once more.

As they sat in silence, soaking up the sun, Erin's thoughts drifted to her father.  
He was a tall, buff man, benching over four hundred pounds easily, and used to run marathons for causes like Breast Cancer and Leukemia. He was a Staff Sergeant of his regiment, and in charge of his little camp place of station in the Middle East. Basically, anything any related to guns, shooting, and killing was put in place by him.

Erin's family of three would sit at home every night waiting for a possible call, and most of the time, their hopes were shredded by the lack of ringing the phone would make.  
Andrew and Erin never went to football games, basketball games, and if they went to the movies, it was a five o'clock show, and they would be sure to be home by eight at the least.

On the rare occasion that he did call, he was sure to be put on the phone with each of them, their mother getting the largest allotment of time, and they'd have a brief call over phone. Sometimes he'd be able to talk for an hour or more, sometimes it was a quick hello, and they had to hand the phone over to the other.

Sometimes, Mark would be able to tell his family that events of that day, and other times, he would tell them that he wasn't allowed to say, but from the tone of his voice, Adrienne and her kids always had a hankering of what happened that day.

Mark was never a very chipper guy. He was laid back with a very masculine aura around him. He was the hug that you needed on a bad day, and open ears when you just needed to talk. Adrienne always said Erin got her listening skills from her father.  
But even though he never displayed great emotional response, those who knew him well could depict tones in his voice.

One time, Mark called, and Erin vowed never to forget the sorrow in his voice.  
"Adrienne," he'd said over the speaker phone in her room. She didn't know her children were eavesdropping.  
"We were attacked in camp today. And so naturally, we shot fought back."  
"Mark, baby, you did what you had to." Adrienne tried to console her husband.  
"Adrienne, I shot a boy. A boy. He wasn't even Andrew's age. He was like thirteen or something." He said, and Erin could hear his sniffle into the phone.  
Adrienne was silent. What could she say to that?  
Mark sniffled again. "Adrienne, when I saw that boy, I fell to my knees and I prayed."  
Erin looked at Andrew, who had the same look on his face as his twin sister.

Their father was never the religious sort of man. He attended church with his family, but when it came to vocal worship, or singing, he just stood and read the lines on the projector. He usually never closed his eyes to pray, and he was highly critical of the preachers that preached to him.  
So falling to his knees to pray was extremely rare. In fact, any show of religious relationship was a dead factor in Mark's life.

"Adrienne, I think God is punishing me." He cried. Adrienne sniffled now too.  
"Baby, God wouldn't give you anything that you couldn't handle."  
"Adrienne, I don't want to do this anymore. These are young children, who have no idea what they're doing! They're handed a gun, show them how to shoot and reload, and they're told to go with these people and if they don't kill so many Americans, they'll kill their families."  
Mark was sobbing now.

Erin was amazed. She'd only seen her father cry twice in her life. Once when she was in the hospital with leukemia, and she told her daddy that God said to tell him that He loved him.  
The second time was when his father died.  
But neither of those times were any real tears. They were the eye sparkling tears, that let a couple of water drops roll down his cheeks, but they quickly dried away.

Now, her father, the huge, buff man with a concrete heart was sobbing on the phone.

Erin's heart went out to him, wishing she could only take a little bit of his hurt away and store it away in her own heart.

"Baby, God is watching over you, and He's helping you through this. Mark, you need to trust in Him, and He'll bring you through this."  
Andrew stood, and started pulling Erin away from the door.  
The last thing she ever heard her father say was, "Tell Erin and Andrew I love them. I love them so much. And you, Adrienne. I am so in love with you, baby, you're my world." all the while, Mark was balling.

Two weeks later, Erin's household was filled with anticipation and hostility.  
The lack of phone calls from their father was starting to cause them to worry, and they all grew uptight.  
Erin and Andrew went out that night to get take-out Chinese.  
When they came home, Adrienne was cradling the phone, tears running down her face like marathoners and she was on the floor, holding onto the couch for support.  
Her eyes were closed painfully, and she sobbed for air. The way she was crying automatically made tears spring to Erin's eyes. She already knew without having to ask.

"Oh, no no no," she pleaded, and sank next to her mother.  
She looked at the phone in her mother's limp hand.  
"Mrs. Daniels?? Are you there?" said a very military sounding voice.  
Adrienne sucked in more air and wailed mournfully.

Andrew took the phone from his mother's hand.  
"Yes sir, this is Andrew Daniels. Yes sir." Then, he was silent, and gave his sister a look, who was already to the hysterics her mother had gone into.

"Yes sir. Tomorrow wouldn't be better than any other day, so…" Andrew's voice faltered momentarily. "You…uhm...might as well come tomorrow." He whispered hoarsely.

Erin could see the tears welling up in Andrew's eyes too.

Andrew hung up the phone, and it dropped onto the chair.  
Erin looked at Andrew for some courage, something that could keep her strong for her mother.

But Andrew then closed his eyes, and his forehead wrinkled, and he huffed, letting the tears fly.  
Then, he crumpled to the floor in a head, and he, too, started to sob.

"Oh my God!" Andrew cried out, and he let his face touch the rug.  
Berny, their black lab, walked out from around the corner, and saw his owners all in a heap on the floor, and he tilted his head and whined.  
Berny then laid on the floor and stared at Andrew.  
Erin patted the floor next to her, and Berny crawled slowly over to her, rested his head in her lap, and whined.  
"Oh God," Andrew pleaded, reaching out for Erin's hand.  
Erin grabbed it blindly, her vision blinded by a continuous waterfall of tears, and she felt Andrew's grip tight on her fingers, but she didn't complain.

The three stayed on the floor for an hour, and for the most of the time, Andrew prayed while his mother and his sister listened.  
Adrienne would rush into a new spring of tears if Andrew mentioned his father, and when she did, Andrew would grip Erin's hand a little tighter, as though to dispel some of his pain away.

For the next month and a half, the Daniels family shut themselves away from the world, not daring to leave the house much because they'd encounter people who would ask them how they were, and the Daniels just weren't ready to talk about anything just yet.  
The school had allotted Erin and Andrew three weeks of mourning time, but it just wasn't enough. Things changed drastically from then on.

Andrew broke up with his girlfriend of four months. He just didn't want her to feel bad because he didn't want to be around her anymore and during that time, Andrew and Erin grew extremely close.  
Sometimes, during the middle of the night, Andrew would come into Erin's room, his face red, puffy and soaking wet and Erin would get up and hug him. She'd never seen Andrew anything more that a little upset.  
But their hearts had been torn out. Mark was a very prominent part of their lives, and now he was gone, and he was never coming back.

Adrienne became depressed, and Andrew forced her to see the doctor to get put on medication.

Andrew broke his arm falling down the stairs, and worst of all, Erin had a relapse, and was hospitalized for three months.

The leukemia was fought once again, but for some reason, her heart stopped beating, and gave the doctor's a reason for their high salary.

When she was stable once again, Andrew came in with flowers and a bear, and gave his sister a big hug.  
"Andrew," she said, and Andrew looked at her.  
"Dad says he loves you," she told him simply, and Andrew's eyes welled up with tears.

"He also says that he's very proud of you, and that he wants you to stop trying to be the man of the house and it's okay to be sad for a while." She told him, and Andrew gripped her hand.

"But dad also said that he's still with us, even though we can't talk anymore. And he misses us. He says he misses us more than anything."  
Andrew was silently sobbing, and Erin smiled at him.

"He said he wants you to go into his safe. Get me a piece of paper," Erin instructed.  
Andrew jumped up obediently, knocking his chair over, and grabbed a napkin and snatched a pen out from a drawer.  
"The combination is 36-69-20." Erin told him, and Andrew wrote it down.  
"He says that you're in charge of making sure everything gets to everyone. There's a special something for us all, and he's told me to make sure you invest in it wisely."  
Andrew nodded.  
"But he said to tell you that you're were better than any son he could ever ask for, and that he's proud of you for taking care of mom and getting her the pills. He says that it's really nice where he's at, and he's met that Iraqi boy he shot. His name was Haakeeim, and he says hello."

Erin finished off with descriptions of her father.  
"Andy, he wasn't bloody or anything. He didn't have any…wounds, or scars or anything. And he was pale. He seemed…happy, Andy. He said not to be sad, but he knows we're going to be for a while. Andy, I saw him for real. You believe me, don't you?"

How could he not believe her? No one knew that combination to his safe, not even his wife. And Erin seemed amazed that she was even saying all this herself, so how could he doubt her.  
"Of course I do." He told her.

Two weeks later, a man came to their doorstep and knocked on the door. Berny barked while Erin put on her hat. People tended to stare at her bald head.  
When she opened the door, she saw a young man in green marine formals and the funny hat on top his head. He was standing next to a particularly large box.  
"Daniels residence?" he asked.  
Erin nodded solemnly, and let him in the door, shooing Berny away.

"Andrew! Mom!" she called through the house. "Berny, stop barking!" she commanded, and Berny sat impatiently, staring intently at the stranger.

Adrienne and Andrew came out together.  
"Hello Mrs. Daniels, I'm Lieutenant Sherman and I've got your husband's belongings." He said shortly.

Adrienne gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, and she gripped Andrew's should with the other hand.

Lieutenant Sherman inclined his head. "I'm also here to inform you that there are certain documents that we need for a couple days, and I'll personally deliver them back to you in three days or so." He informed them.  
"Well, what do you need?" Adrienne asked.

"A packet of papers that your husband has left in his safe. I have the combination if you don't have it."

Andrew stared at the guy. He hadn't yet opened the safe. "What's the combination?" he demanded.

Lieutenant Sherman pulled a paper out of his front pocket. "It's written on here."  
Erin walked over to Andrew's shoulder to see if she was right.  
The piece of paper had "Staff Sergeant Mark Daniels' safe #: 36-69-20" on it.

Wordlessly, Andrew led the Lieutenant to the computer room where the safe was, and punched the numbers into the code box. It dinged for correctness, the lock scraped open, and it cracked open a little.  
Andrew slowly pulled the door out all the way, and let the Lieutenant in for what he wanted, which was a thick manila envelope that had "For Lieutenant Sherman" on it.

He looked at Adrienne. "It was nice talking to you," he said, tipped his hat, and saw himself out while Adrienne and her children stared at the safe.

There were pictures that Erin and Andrew had made for him back in the second grade haphazardly taped up like a boarder around the safe. It was an eight foot tall by three foot wide safe, so many pictures were hung.

There was a cubby for papers on the door with neatly placed documents and other things in it.

There was a cubby box locked with each of their names on it, and all three were locked.  
"Try our birthdays," Erin suggested, and Andrew reached forward, turning the dial for his birthday.  
The lock clicked open.

He reached inside and pulled out a large briefcase that weight about ten pounds.  
He set it on the computer desk, and stared at the lock on the front.  
Andrew put in each of their birthdays, and none of them worked, so he stood back, and scratched his head.  
Erin reached forward, and put in her fathers birthday, and the briefcase popped open.

Inside were neatly arranged one hundred dollar bills.

Adrienne gasped, and Erin's mouth drop.  
"I've been saving all of this up for the day that I wouldn't be around." Andrew read from a note their father had left them.  
"Andrew, my son, it is your responsibility to invest wisely. I suggest putting it in a bank under your mother's name, and when you're old enough and move out, both you and your sister have enough for two years full tuition for college, with enough for your mother to live off of. If you and/or your sister do not attend college, or drop out, your mother is entitled to withhold the money from you, and do whatever she pleases with it, whether it be to use it for herself, or save it for something else. I love you, Andrew. Lovingly, your father."

When Andrew finished reading, Erin shut the case. "We're putting it into the bank," she said, looking at him.  
Andrew nodded his head, and looked back at the safe, where Adrienne was pulling items out of her box.

Tears were rolling gently down her face, but she was smiling, holding a picture.

She showed it to her children.  
"This is when you were born." She said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper, for that was all she could manage without her voice cracking.  
Her mother and father were holding them, her Mark with the pink swaddled baby and Adrienne with her son.

Adrienne flipped it over, and in Mark's almost perfect swirly cursive was written, "The best day of my life, Andrew and Erin, March 13, 1991"

Andrew gently tugged at his sister's arm, and the two left the room to let their mother go through her things alone.

---

"You okay, Erin?" Connor asked her.  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just…I'm fine. You know…" Erin sat up. "We're at the pool. Let's get in the water." She said, making an effort to forget the memory she'd just walked herself through in the short amount of time.  
Connor jumped up. "Alright," he said happily, and he took her hand, and jumped into the pool.

* * *

Hey, thanks for reading!! But since you read, you must review!! Haha!

Anyway, tell me what you think!!

xoxo

-Leo


	16. Chapter 16

First off, I deleted the Author's Note, so I don't know how that will mess up the system, but whatever.

Second, thanks to everyone who commented!!

meee

kaya rose

Liana 111

Debbles

xCraving-Cullenismx

Eran

marble1203

hunfergamesfan51

Chrys Tall

NIkki

Bekah

wolf-girl101

Third, check out my other story; The Key. [it's off of twilight. it's a little...pre-good, unlike this one, but believe me, it will get good soon.]

And lastly, before I let you get on with what you want, if you find mistakes, LET ME KNOW!! and don't just tell me, oh, there's a few.  
highlight them, click copy and paste them to me! Microsoft Word and my brain are only so good. Thanks. xoxo, leo

* * *

"Wow, that was so much fun!" Erin said, walking up to their table and wrapping her towel around her body.

Connor smiled, standing next to her, dripping wet still.

After starting a pool-wide slashing fight, they'd somehow convinced everyone to get in on a game of pool volleyball.

Erin wrapped her body up tight, leaned over, and wrung out the water her hair had soaked up.  
It fell in a neat little splash on the concrete.  
"Thanks for coming with me," Connor replied.

Erin looked at her skin under the umbrella and sighed. "I hope my sunburn won't be too bad," she complained.  
"Pish posh," Connor said casually, and Erin busted out laughing.  
"Pish posh?" she asked.  
"Yes, pish posh. That's what my grandmother said when I was little." He defended.

Erin waggled her head. "Well, pish posh, darling. Let's traverse home and have tea and crrrrumet," she teased, drawing out the word.  
Connor pouted, wrapping his body in his towel after wringing any water he could out of his shorts. "She wasn't English," he pouted.  
"Oh really?" Erin replied with an English accent.

Connor stuck his lower lip out at her, and scuffed out of the pool area.  
"She was Polish," he murmured, making Erin laugh again.

---

"Have I told you today that you have a really nice car?" Connor asked after throwing his bag in the back and neatly folding up his towel to cover the seat so he wouldn't soak it.  
Erin did the same.  
"Why yes you have, Connor." She replied, sliding in and putting the key into the ignition.  
"Well, you have a nice car," Connor repeated.  
Erin stared at him for a second, her sunglasses on top her hair, which was thrown haphazardly into a messy, non-brushed bun on the top of her head.  
"Pish posh, Connor, pish posh." She said, throwing a 'v' accent into the mixture, so her 'pish'es sounded like 'peesh'es.

Connor sunk down in his chair and crossed his arms, sticking his lower lip out.  
"You know, that doesn't work on me." Erin told him informatively.  
"Well, why not?" Connor demanded, looking at her with a pout.  
"Because, I can always do it better than anyone else." She replied sarcastically.  
Connor gave her a disbelieving look.  
Erin smiled, looking at him briefly, and throwing the car into drive.  
"You'll see," she assured him. "I get just about anything if I give someone that look." She added for spite, and gunned her car, squealing out of the pool parking lot.  
"TEN MILES PER HOUR!" Connor griped through gritted teeth.

---

Back at the cabin, Chris had made his way up the stairs, which unfortunately took about ten minutes, and he was finally in his bed when someone knocked at the door.

Groaning, he decided to ignore it. Until someone knocked. And again, someone knocked.  
"GO AWAY!!!" he yelled indifferently, but the knocking persisted, until the door opened.

"Hello?" called a voice, and Chris' stomach dropped.

He knew that voice. He knew he hated that voice. He couldn't picture a person to go with the voice.

"Chris! I know you're here," it called, almost teasingly.

Chris groaned when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

When the person came into view, his carrot-top first, he scowled, remembering who the voice belonged to perfectly now.

Brandon smiled at him. It was a fake smile. One that said, "I-feel-sorry-for-you, but-really-I'm-lying."  
"What do you want?" Chris demanding, placing a hand on his back.  
"Aw, don't feel so good, do you?" he asked.

Chris rolled his eyes, slowly transferring weight from his side to his back.  
"Get out of here before someone comes back." He warned unenthusiastically.

Brandon laughed at him. "Or what??" he asked.  
Chris gave him a bemused look. "Perhaps you haven't seen Ben. Big black guy, star line-backer…he benches like 400 pounds..." Chris informed him.  
"I've seen him." He said. "I'm not scared of him or anything." He added, a little less boldly.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You don't like me. So why are you here?" he asked with an annoyed sigh.

"I saw you hobbling back here, and I wanted to tell you to stay away from Erin." He informed him, looking around the room like he was an investigator.

Chris rolled his eyes. This guy was a nutcase. He thought he owned Erin. He thought he could have power over who hung out with her, and who didn't. He thought…

_Wow, I really sound a lot like this guy._

Chris ran over his thoughts of how Connor was going out with _his_ girl, and how Erin would come running back to him.

_I really sounded pathetic_, he concluded silently.

For moments, he pondered. Had he really said that to himself?? Had he really sounded that much like Brandon? Brandon made his guts squirm and the hair on the back of his neck curl. He pretty much hated Brandon. And he sounded like him.

It made Chris' blood boil thinking about it.

"Did you hear me?" Brandon demanded, staring at Chris. Chris lifted his eyes to the egotistical redhead. "What are you going to do if I don't?" he asked.

Brandon smiled. "You're already crippled, so I can't do anything worse to you. But I could kidnap her."

Chris snorted. "How stupid are you??"  
Brandon glared at him. "You think I'm kidding, don't you?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Seriously. You're going to kidnap a girl because she is _dorming_ with a room of guys. You're being kind of pathetic, don't you think?" he asked, slightly amused.

Brandon glared at him. "You're testing me. I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned Chris.

"You're getting a little redundant." Chris told him apathetically, and rolled to his back.  
Outside, Chris recognized the hum of a car engine, and it cut off. Next, there was laughter, specifically a girls' laughter, and car doors slammed. He smiled up at Brandon. "I guess your visit has been cut short." He said, his eyes smiling.

Brandon looked daggers at Chris, all the while, slinking backward towards the door.

Chris threw a hand behind his head. "You know," he said, his voice in a laughing tone. "If you leave now, you'll be able to sneak out the back door, and no one will ever know you were here. Of course, I'll tell them, and they might think I'm a psycho, but I think there's a ninety-five percent chance that they'll believe me."  
Next thing he knew, Brandon was gone, stomping down the stairs, and the swing door to the back porch slammed against the wall behind it. Chris smiled, proud of himself.

Outside, the car doors slammed, and Chris knew that Brandon would be halfway to his cabin by now, but something told him Connor and Erin wouldn't believe him. He had, after all, caused a little bit of strife within the cabin.

The front door opened, and Erin and Connor came in, heading up the stairs immediately.

"It is SO cold in here," Erin said, and giggled. Connors booming laugh followed.  
"So, I was thinking I could jump in the shower, and we could…whoa, Chris, what happened to you?" Erin said, stopping dead in her tracks as soon as she saw Chris.  
Chris looked down at himself. There were pieces of grass clinging to his shirt, and dirt covered him from head to toe.  
Chris laughed once. "I fell," he replied. "But look, that's not important. While you two were gone, Brandon paid a visit, and came up here..."  
"Dude, quit, would you?" Connor interrupted him, throwing his hands up.

Chris ignored him. "He's seemed pretty irritated that his new girlfriend was out with Connor…" he said to Erin, who was staring down at him.

She was gorgeous standing there in the middle of the room. She was wearing shorts and her bikini top, her tanned, yet light skin rippled with goose bumps from the cold. Her hair was plastered to the sides of her face, wet, and clumped together.

"What do you mean, Chris?" she asked him, genuinely confused.  
Connor groaned. "It's just another scandal, can't you see that?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips, and walking away.

Chris shook his head, and immediately regretted it. His spine spasmed when he moved his head so violently and he gasped for breath.

"Brandon came looking for you, and he…well, I told him you were out, and he told me to tell everyone in the house to stay away from you. He said…he'd go to extremes to make us listen."

Erin raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Chris," she said, a disgusted look on her face. "Your antics are getting a little old." She said, and went to her dresser, which was a suitcase stuffed under her bed, and pulled out another pair of shorts, and a bundled up shirt that looked a little too bulky to be only a shirt.

Chris sighed. "I figured you'd see it that way," he said, rolling his eyes. "But…he did come here, regardless of what you think. Just thought I'd let you know, you know? Make sure you're aware of everything.

Erin grabbed her other dry towel, and went into the bathroom, shutting the door, and Chris was almost positive she tried to make sure she exaggerated the _click_ of the lock on the door.

Connor looked at him, one hand on the bunk bed, leaning into it. "Dude," he asked, raising his shoulders. "What are you doing?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Chris sighed. "I'm serious about Brandon," he said in a warning tone.

Connor nodded unenthusiastically. "Right. And my name is Pocahontas." He snorted.

Chris shrugged. "Sucks for you man," he replied.

Connor pushed against the frame of the bed, standing vertical now, and he growled. "Just…cut the crap, okay? We're all tired of it. All of us." Connor spat.

Chris snickered. "Oh, and they're oh so pleased with you breaking the agreement."

Connor hung his head after a moment. "It's not like I meant to," he said. "It's just…I dunno, I'm attracted to her, you know?"

"Yeah, who isn't?"

"Not like that… she's…so different."

"Stop being soft, dude, you're making me feel funny."

Connor shrugged. "So, uh, what happened anyway?" he asked, lifting a hand to Chris' newest accessories that adorned his clothing. There was a prominent scrape on the side of his head. Chris looked himself over. "I fell," he said, preferring not to go into details.

"Sucks," Connor murmured.

-~-

Erin turned on the faucet and shrugged out of her bikini, setting her clothes on the toilet and hanging her towel up. All of this was actually quite an effort in the tiny bathroom. The door opened into the toilet, opening about a foot before the bowl physically stopped it. When if the bathroom, there was about a foot of room before the wall stopped everything. Opposite the toilet was a mini mirror, which was anything but accurate. It looked like someone ran out of mirrors, so they put up tinfoil on the wall and covered it with plastic and the reflection was disfigured and dimmed. Erin had arranged it so that all the boys' towels covered the mirror so she wouldn't have to look at herself while she used the restroom. There was a shower with a disgusting floor, so she wore flip-flops in there, and barely any room to stretch her arms out to either side of her, but hey, it was a shower, and it had hot water. After the room had gotten steamy, Erin hopped in the shower, washed her hair to be sure that the chlorine wouldn't turn her hair green, she washed her body and face, and turned off the water.

The room was steamy, and she was barely able to see the other side of the bathroom, even though it wasn't more than four feet long, and Erin dried off and got dressed. Flipping her hair over and wrapping it up in a turban-like towel, she opened the door, collecting her swimsuit and hanging it over the door, and let the cool air outside welcome her.

Connor was laying on her bed, knocked out, one leg bent at the knee, the other stretched out off her bed.

She lifted an eyebrow, and sighed. She went over the bed, and promptly sat on him, waking him.

"Waugh!" he moaned, a combination between 'what' and 'ugh',

Erin giggled. "Wake-up sleepyhead." She said with a grin, and got up.

He rolled over on his side and smiled at her. "Mornin'," he mumbled to her, his eyes half closed.

Erin sighed. "What good are you, falling asleep on me?" she asked him sarcastically.

Connor yawned and shrugged his shoulders.

"So...what are you good at?" he asked her, tired.

"Well, I'm good at volleyball." She offered one hand on a hip at the top of her jean shorts. She had a purple t-shirt on.  
"Besides that."

Erin's tongue appeared out of the side of her mouth. "Well…I'm good at making boys look bad at football," she offered.  
"Is that so?" Connor asked. "We'll have to tell Ben."  
Erin's eyes got big. "Not that good. He'd crush me,"

Connor laughed. "Okay. It was just a suggestion anyway. What else?"

Erin had to think.

What was she good at? She got third place in the gymnastics competition her freshman year. She was on the soccer team and the volleyball team at school. She could swim, obviously.

"I really don't know." She said.

"You draw?" Connor asked her.

Erin shrugged. "Eh. I'm the best at stick-figures. No one is better," she offered.

Connor nodded his head, and sat up. "Let's go the art hall," he said, and stretched his arms above his head, yawning and leaning back.

Erin looked over for Chris, just noticing he wasn't there, lying on his bed covered in dirt.

"Where'd he go?" she asked.

Connor sighed. "I think his back was feeling just good enough to use the bathroom next door because you took too long." He responded.

Erin snorted. "I only took like twenty-five minutes." She protested.

"Which is why I fell asleep. Let's go."

Connor took her hand and led her downstairs, out the door, and past her car.  
"Not using a faster mode of transportation?" she asked, throwing her towel that was still on her head like a turban on the porch before he could drag her out in public with it.  
Her hair was moderately sopped up of any water anyway.

"Nope. Walking. It's great for your heart." Connor informed her.  
"I'll remember that," she said.

Connor snickered, and they headed down the dirt road for the art hall at the opposite end where the pool was.


	17. Chapter 17

It took a good thirty minutes to get to the art hall, and by the time they got there, virtually everyone had left to go get ready for dinner, which was in an hour.

Connor opened the door, and cool, unpolluted air smacked her in the face.

She shivered, suddenly cold, probably due to her wet hair.

Erin wrapped her arms around her waist, and followed Connor in.

The first thing she noticed was how clean and white the room looked. It was an open room, about twenty-five to thirty feet long by the same or wider. The walls were white, and three were lined with windows to allow as much light in as possible.

There were art easels, a sectioned off area for ceramics, where a red-head with her hair pulled up behind her in a pony-tail was working, headphones stuck into her ears.  
There was an Asian guy sitting at one of the easels turned from them, and an elderly lady sat in the back.

She looked up and started toward them when they walked through the door.

"Welcome to the Art Hall." She said.  
Erin looked around the room. It wasn't very hall-like.

"I'm Theresa, and you can let me know if you need anything," she informed them with a smile, and went back to reading her magazine.

Connor smiled down at Erin, and ambled around to a table with a cup over-filled with pencils, a cup of markers, and a cup of crayons.

Connor sat down, and pulled a piece of paper off of a roll behind him, and handed it to Erin. She took it, and pulled a black pencil from the cup.

Connor cut himself a piece, and set it in front of him, staring at Erin.

"So why the Art Hall?" she asked him.

Connor shrugged. "I dunno. I knew not many people would be here, and there's nothing better to do, so…why not?" he asked, stood up, and got himself an easel.  
"Want one?" he asked, but Erin shook her head. "I'm good with the old fashioned flat surface." She said proudly, patting the table.

Connor shrugged, and hefted the easel to where he could still talk to Erin.

"So," Erin said, drawing long black lines across her paper with a ruler.

"So." Connor replied, composed.

"What'cha gonna draw?" she asked.  
Connor looked at her, his brown eyes peeking out from under his thick, dark eyebrows.  
"I can't tell you that," he told her. "It's a secret."

Erin rolled her eyes. "Sure." She replied, and went back to her line drawing.

Connor smiled, and collected supplies for whatever he was going to draw.

"What are _you_ going to draw??" Connor asked her, placing his pencils and paints in certain order next to him on a supplied table.

"A comic strip." Erin replied simply.

Connor choked back a laugh, which caused him to cough violently.  
"Why…a comic strip?" he asked her in between a cough.  
Erin smiled to herself. "To prove to you that I make the best stick-figure men ever." She replied, and set to work on her first frame.

The two worked in the Art Hall for a good forty-five minutes before Erin looked at her watch. "Oh, Dinner is about to start," she informed Connor, who had gone into a silent mode, working diligently.

His jaw was so firm when he concentrated, and Erin would have loved to try and draw him, but she knew it would turn out like a lop of mud on paper.

His steady brown eyes followed his hand loyally as it moved across the paper sporadically. His hand never quivered, never second-guessed itself. It just went, like his brain released all control over him limbs, and they took on a mind of their own.

He caught her looking at her once, and she hurried to look away, to finish with her comic strip, her cheeks flushing red. And out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn he smiled at her.

Connor nodded. "Good," he said, folding his work so quickly that Erin didn't have a chance to steal a glimpse. "I was getting hungry anyway," he added.

Erin snickered. "I know, I heard your stomach."

Connor grinned, touching his stomach as though it was growling at that moment, and went to put his stuff away.

He came back, grabbed Erin's hand, and led her out of the Art 'Room', as Erin had decided to call it.

He let it go once they were outside, and for a fleeting moment, Erin almost grabbed it again.

They walked to the Dining Hall, yet another hall which was not a hall by any speculation of the word, talking about their backgrounds.

"So, tell me about this brother of yours," Connor suggested, putting a hand out to brace Erin, who was walking and balancing on a log that served as a road lining.  
"My brother, Andrew always has a full bladder, and is really good at blowing up the bathroom," she said with a giggle, knowing he would love that when she called him later.

Then, Erin gasped, falling off the log from her surprise, and Connor jumped to catch her, succeeding.  
"What?" he asked her, authentically worried.  
"I forgot to call my family today!" she said, half horrified, and patted her jeans for her phone.

It was still back in her bag, in the back of her car. With a groan, she said out loud to herself, "I'll call them tonight," she said, slightly upset.

Connor raised an eyebrow at her. "Want to borrow mine?" he asked, reaching for his phone in his pocket.  
Erin put her hand out to stop him. "No, no, that's fine. Besides, he'd jump to conclusions." She replied.

"What conclusions?" he queried.

Erin looked into his chocolate eyes that were ever-so hazel.

"He would get upset that I was calling on a guys' phone, and he might even drive all the way out here," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Ah," Connor replied, letting Erin grip his fingers as she hoisted herself up onto the ever-going log again. "So, he's the protective type?" he asked.  
Erin snickered. "More like…personal guard dog." She corrected him.

Connor eyes got big, and his head jerked a little. "Wow, how old is he?" he asked, assuming that he was in his twenties.

"My age," Erin replied, watching her log.

"So, you're step-siblings?" Connor asked.

Erin shook her head, and looked up at him. "I'm a twin," she replied, as though he should know.

The ends of Connor's mouth went down, and his eyebrows went up. "I didn't know that." He replied.  
Erin nodded. "Yeah, it has its ups and downs. Like, Andrew is kind of the popular kid in school. He's a jock, but people actually like him, and so naturally, like most guys, he didn't want his baby sister going out with anyone unless he approved of them, which wasn't likely to be anyone I chose, because I am kind of a jock, and he knows all his buddies because they share a locker room…and you get the picture," Erin trailed off.

Connor did understand. Guys talk about everything in the locker room. Which girls were bangin', which girls were hot enough to be banged, which girls were sluts, which girls were just a booty-call, so on. And no doubt, Andrew had to listen to a few conversations about his sister, who would be on the "bangin'" list, no doubt about that.

"So, did you ever date anyone?" he asked

Erin shrugged, tilting her head from side to side. "They were all…well, jerks. I dated one kid who got beat up in the locker room because he said something about me and Andy didn't like it. So he and his friends ganged up on him. And he broke up with me that night on the phone. Something about a 'freakin' crazy bastard for a brother'." Erin giggled. "But don't get me wrong, he's really cool. He understands me. I wonder why…" she trailed off sarcastically.

Connor smirked, and held Erin's hand as she made a jump from one log to another.

"Well, I'm guessing you're close." He told her.  
Erin rolled her lips. "We have to be," she replied, still staring at her log, almost as if she was afraid to look up.

"How so?" Connor asked.  
Erin shrugged. "Ever since my dad died, he's been the man of the house, you know? And mom had her issues there for a while, and so we learned to work together to get things done. Amazingly so, we did really well while my mom recovered." She offered.  
"It doesn't sound like you had much time to recover there, though." Connor suggested.  
Erin stopped suddenly, and looked at Connor. "What makes you say that?" she asked him.

Connor looked at the ground, then back to her. "Well," he started, shuffling his feet. "You and your brother helped your mom out for a couple months while she recovered. Did you ever sit out and mourn yourself?"

Erin's face drew back, offensive. "Of course I did. He was my father. He is my father." She replied

Connor held up his hand in defense. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, I'm just merely curious." He replied.

Erin nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

Connor shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry about. I was prying." He told her.

Erin smirked. "You know," she said, getting off her log to walk beside Connor. "I've never told anyone the story about my father. Most people just know that he died in the war. No one but my close family, and a few friends know the truth.

"It's kind of weird, talking to you about it. Not because you're prying, but you're not, you're just curious. My counselor tried so hard to talk to my brother and me, but we wouldn't budge. Everyone else at school whispered about us behind our backs, we were tired of thinking about it all the time. And here I am, opening up to you." She said.

Connor shrugged. "I'm a listener." He proposed.  
"I guess so," Erin replied, and they reached the Dinner Hall.

-~-

"There you are!" came Ben's roaring bass voice, and Erin turned to her immediate right, greeted by a huge black guy with a bald head and massive shoulders.  
"Ben!" Erin replied, and smiled, waving.  
"Where have you guys been?" Luke asked, walking up beside Ben.  
"The pool," Connor replied, closing the door behind him, giving the two gentlemen a wary look.

He knew what they would think about him being with Erin alone at the pool for most of the day.

Luke reached forward to mock-touch Erin's neck. "Obviously, you're scorched," he reported.

Erin looked towards Luke's finger. "Oh," she grumbled, pulling down her shirt, revealing a brilliant red tan on her shoulders. She sighed. "So much for sunscreen," she grumbled.  
Ben sucked in air, and made a face, and Connor grimaced. "Thaaaat's gonna hurt in the morning," he sighed.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Oh well," she replied, thankful she'd packed her bottle of aloe vera sooth-a-cane for sunburns.

"Come on, I'm hungry," she told Connor, and led the way to the lines.

This time, there was a line for Mexican, again, and another line for chicken and dumplings. There was a pasta bar, filled with three different kinds of pasta, and two sauces, and a salad bar.  
With delight, Erin headed for the salad bar, almost rubbing her hands together.

Filling a plate up with lettuce, veggies and corn, she walked over to the Mexican bar, and got two plates, one with three tortillas on it, the other with fillings, and two large mini-cups of salsa and sour cream.

For a drink, she got a glass of water, and waited patiently for Luke and Ben to finish up. Connor was eying her carefully from the soda machine, almost with a glower. She smiled at him, but he didn't react.

Curious, Erin turned around to see Brandon staring seemingly back at her, but she had a feeling the fierce looks from either of them was not meant for her. Then, Brandon got up and walked toward her, now smiling.

Chris' words came back to mind all of a sudden. "While you two were gone, Brandon paid a visit, and came up here..."

"He's seemed pretty irritated that his new girlfriend was out with Connor…" "Brandon came looking for you, and he…well, I told him you were out, and he told me to tell everyone in the house to stay away from you. He said…he'd go to extremes to make us listen."

Would Brandon really try to keep getting with her?

"Erin, baby, I missed you."

_Apparently._

"Hey…" Erin replied, tentatively, looking around for Ben or Connor.  
"So…what happened today? I thought we were going out?"  
"Going where?" Erin asked, trying to stay calm. All she could think about were Chris' words. _He said…he'd go to extremes to make us listen._ To make them stay away from Erin. Like he had some kind of claim on here. Like every guy in the stupid cabin had some rule about her.

"Baby, I thought we were…you know, dating." Brandon said, looking over her shoulder, and his face dropped. Suddenly, Brandon's attractive features didn't seem to interest her any longer.

Connor came up steadfast on her side, unwilling to leave it until Erin came with him.

He didn't say anything, and Erin didn't look at him, but she knew he was glaring at Brandon.

"What gave you that impression?" Erin asked quietly, afraid Connor would drop his tray at any moment, and start a brawl in the middle of the cafeteria.

Brandon's gaze flickered back to her. "Well, you kissed me, remember?" he asked persistently.  
"I didn't know that was a binding contract." Erin replied carefully.

"Well, it is." Brandon snapped angrily, and Connor's tray beside her shook, making the plates and the silverware clatter together.

Erin smiled. "Well, I'm sorry, but…it was just something of the moment. It didn't mean anything." She told him cautiously.

Brandon smiled. It sent shivers down Erin's heated back. "Oh, no dear. It meant something." He reminded her.

Connor took in a heavy sigh, obviously impatient with the conversation they were having, but Erin was trying to keep it as affable as possible by not raising her voice.

"No, Brandon, it didn't. I'm sorry. But…we're not together. We never were."

Brandon stiffened, his neck becoming a pillar. She could hear his teeth clenching together, and then Ben and Luke were there by her unaccompanied side.

He gave each of them a look, saving the meanest for Erin, and stalked away.

"What a creep," Luke shot after him, unconcerned if Brandon had heard him or not, and the four of them went to find a table.

"BEN!" came a voice at the top of the stairs, and they looked up. Mike, his black hair and slanted features, were waving at them from the opposite side of where they were, so they filed, one by one like sheep, up the stairs and across the balcony to where Mike had saved them a spot.

"What was that?!" Mike asked, unusually enthusiastic for Mike.

Ben set down his stuff, and pulled out a chair next to him. "What was what?" he asked his voice low enough to make Erin's heart thrum like it usually did when bass was played too loud. Or maybe that was her vocal chords.

"All _that_!" Mike shrieked, pointing down where they'd previously stood.

Erin looked over the balcony, half-expecting to see her still standing there being assaulted by Brandon.

Connor slammed his tray down on the table, sitting by Erin, who was next to Luke. His drink sloshed over a little into his plate of food.  
He groaned loudly in frustration, and clenched the back of the seat until his knuckles were white.  
"It was a misconception." Luke informed Mike, who was staring at Connor.  
Connor's jaw was set incredibly tight, and his once milk chocolate eyes with flecks of mint and white chocolate had glazed over into a murky, burnt chocolate.  
"I'll say," Mike replied, amazed by Connor's reaction.  
Erin smiled, and let her fingers graze over Connor's soothingly, her warm fingers sliding up and down Connor's fingers and the top of his hand, which were as cold as ice, due to the constriction they'd been under.

Eventually, after Erin was halfway done with her salad did Connor finally calm down.

She ate her salad and engaged in the conversation, but her right hand was rolling over the top of Connor's just as it had earlier, and eventually, he sighed, shook his body a little, and stabbed his food with his fork.

At this, Erin's hand went in between her knees, and she continued eating like nothing had ever happened.

Mike gave Erin a look that suggested he wanted to bring up the initial conversation, but Erin gave him a warning look, and Luke shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly.

Connor's head was bent throughout the entire meal, unresponsive to any conversation that was going on, and the table just let him be.

"Oh!" Erin exclaimed, sitting back, throwing her hands behind her head. "I'm full!" she announced.

Luke snickered, but Ben looked at her longingly. "Are you going to finish your pasta?" he asked, looking from her to the half-full bowl of pasta with red sauce.

Erin swished her hand and Ben swiped the dish before Erin could say, "Take it all."

Just then, Connor tapped Erin's hand under the table. "Can we go back to the Art Hall, I mean, Room?" he asked.  
Erin shrugged. "Sure." She replied, and pushed her chair back. "I'll see you guys at the cabin…Hey, do any of you know if Chris has eaten?" she asked the boys. They looked from each other and shrugged.  
Erin nodded. "Alright. I'll grab him something to eat." She announced, packed empty dishes on her tray, and picked it up, followed by Connor.

Silently, they went downstairs to empty their trays. Quickly, Erin glanced to the spot where Brandon was previously, but he was absent, and a whoosh of air escaped her anxious lungs.

She walked over to the lines again, excusing herself, and piling food into two take home boxes for Chris, knowing he would be starving, and hurt.

Then, Connor and Erin left together.  
They were quiet for a little while, listening to crickets chirp their songs of the night, and walked the guided path, lit by street lamps covered in flying bugs that occasionally got zapped here and there.

Then, "Erin?"

Erin smiled. _About time. _"Hey," she replied with a smile.

Connor took one of the take-home boxes from her, and cradled it like a football in the crook of his arm. "I'm sorry I reacted like I did." He apologized.

Erin nodded. "There's really no need to be sorry. I'm really grateful you were there. If you weren't, I don't know what he would have done." She informed him.

Connor snorted. "He wouldn't have done anything; there were tons of other people around." He assured her.

"Still," Erin continued. "You were _there_ with me, so he didn't say some of the things that were probably on his mind."

"Oh, I know what's on his mind," Connor growled, and Erin let him to himself again.

"Sorry," he said again.

Erin shrugged. "It's fine." She replied.

"And the way I acted at dinner was kind of embarrassing." He attested.

Erin nodded. "Yeah…considering the fact you're not supposed to talk to me or anything," she said.

Connor winced. "Yeah…I'm sorry about making a deal about you behind your back, too." He said.

Erin laughed. "Stop apologizing. I'm not mad."

Connor grinned, and with his free hand, pulled her his towards his in a walking hug, and let go quickly.

The two came up the to the Art 'Room', and stopped. It was dark inside.

Erin looked at Connor. "It's locked, I'm sure."

Connor shrugged. "I didn't really need to come here anyway. I just wanted to get out of there." He enlightened her.

Erin giggled. "I figured as much, but I didn't want to say anything." She replied.

Connor set in the path to their cabin, walking a little closer to Erin than was usual.

"You're really cool. You know that?" he asked her.

Erin guffawed. "Why is that? Because I get in a lot of boy drama?"

"No," Connor replied quickly but carefully. "You just are. You're not completely absorbed in teen magazines or checking out the hotties or showing off at the pool." He replied.

"You seem like the kind of guy who would like a girl like that," Erin told him truthfully.  
"You think I'm that shallow?" he asked incredulously, his eyes wide. "I'm not that materialistic. Sure, it's nice to know that a girl thinks I'm attractive, and in a way, it boosts any guy's confidence, but I don't spend every moment of everyday making sure girls see what's for the pool, you know?" he asked.

Erin snickered. "Yeah." She replied. "You know, when I first came here,"  
"Two days ago," Connor reminded her.  
"Two days ago," Erin agreed. "I thought you were just going to try and tick me off in everyway you could."

"Why is that?"

Erin tilted her head in indifference. "Just the way you come off to people at first sight."

"Oh, so you knew my whole life story before you even said hello?" Connor demanded ironically.

"No," Erin defended herself with a smile on her face. "I just thought you were going to be that kid who dated every single girl in camp, and then when they were all used up, you went out with them again, but in reverse order to shake things up."

Connor started to laugh halfway through Erin's statement, but by the end, he was cracking up, making it hard for Erin to finish.

Erin slapped him playfully. "Shut up," she told him, unable to be mad for even a moment.

"Wow, that's amusing." He told her.

Erin pouted, a smile betraying her as a fake.

Connor stopped in front of her, and she crossed her arms, her chin touching her chest, and Erin popped her lower lip out.

Connor stood in front of her, analyzing her with one head slightly angled to one side.

"You know, you are super cute," he said to her, rendering her completely defenseless.

That was the last thing Erin had been expecting him to say. She wasn't expecting anything along the lines of beauty. She had anticipated him making fun of her for pouting, or pretending to baby her.  
But no! He had to be unpredictable.

The look Erin was fronting disappeared instantly. "Thank-you," she replied courteously, searching for a compliment for him.

"You're very handsome." She replied, completely truthful.

Connor shook his head. "See, that's not fair." He told her, shaking a finger, and stepping closer.  
"How so?" Erin challenged a glimmer in her eye.

"I said you were cute. You have to find an equivalent to that." He informed her.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Do not. It's the best man who wins." She retorted playfully.

"And since I'm the man, I say you're beautiful, and you have to deal with it." Connor stated, and stepped up to her, close enough so that Erin could smell his detergent, and she had to tilt her head up to see him correctly.

"Whatever," Erin replied, shrugging his compliment away.

"No, don't whatever me," Connor instructed.

Erin gave him a devious look, thinking she was close to winning. "Don't say what you don't mean." She told him.

Connor's eyes popped out question marks, and he took her face in his hands. "I've never said anything to you that was less than completely truthful and real." He notified her.

Erin's heart melted on the spot.  
She stared into his eyes, taking turns with each eye. "That, Connor, is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." She informed him.

Connor smiled at her, and blinked slowly.

"Hey!" Came a loud, booming, and more distinctively, angry voice from somewhere in the woods.


	18. Chapter 18

Ben looked over at Mike once they left, who was stuffing his face.

"I don't understand." He muttered, forking his pasta.

Luke rolled his eyes. "What, that Connor can't take his hands off her, let alone his eyes?" he asked rhetorically.

Ben shrugged. "Well, I understand that to a point. I'm not one for white girls though," he said,

"Anyway," Mike rolled his eyes, and then filled his mouth to the point where he could barely close his mouth to chew.

Ben shrugged. "I hope she knows what she's getting into. That boy across the way…that redhead Brenton kid."

"Brandon." Luke corrected.

"Brandon. He and Connor have a past. And it's not too friendly." Ben informed when.

Mike shrugged from across the table, shaking his long, thin, black hair out of his eyes. "Who cares?" he asked rhetorically, letting the question hang in the air.

Ben tilted his head, letting his shoulder meet his ear. "Well, I know that Brenton or Brandon, whatever, he likes Erin, and…Connor is hanging out with her. It can't mean anything too good for Erin."

Luke snorted. "What, does she have to check in with every guy in the camp, making sure they're alright who she hangs out with?"

Ben sighed. "Never mind," he rumbled, taking a large bite of his pasta.

-Connor-

She told me that I was a player, basically. The guy that everyone knows, most people hate, who goes out with all the girls he can, just for something to do.  
Boy did she have it wrong.

So wrong and completely in the opposite direction that I had to laugh in amusement, and she hit me lightly.

"Shut up," she told me, and pouted.

And it was there in the dull yellow lamplight from the street that I finally let it all hit me.

She was so gorgeous, inside and out.

Beautiful tanned skin, yet ever so light compared to other girls and now red, sparkling blue eyes that glistened in just the right way, tiny hands and stubby fingers, long, toned legs that made a guy moan like he would at the rumble of a beautiful car.

Her personality was like a spark among a sea of black; red, spontaneous, and genuine. Her quirks that were so original, like the way she stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth when she thought or concentrated on something, how her voice switched octaves in a heartbeat, how serious she got when the moment called for it.

I was falling head over heels in love with this strange, but totally personable and somehow familiar girl.

I knew I wasn't supposed to, and I knew I didn't want to, but my mother always told me I'd know when I would meet the girl I was supposed to be with.

At that moment, Erin stuck out her bottom lip to pout at me, and I couldn't help but smile.  
"You know," I said to her, admiring her oval face in the yellow light. "You are super cute."

Erin's face dropped, and for a moment, I was worried I said something wrong, gone too far, crossed the line.  
Then, "Thank-you," she said to me, quiet and reserved, clutching her hands in front of her, and her left foot shifted outward like a shy little girl. "You're very handsome," she added, and I shook my head. "See," I proclaimed, shaking a mocking finger at her. "That's not fair."

Erin grinned, and her chin pointed outward. "How so?" she asked.

I pointed to myself, jabbing myself more than gently in the process between my pecs. "I said you were _cute_. You have to find an equivalent to that."

Erin crossed her arms and stuck her hip out, and all I wanted to do want put my hand on it. "Do not." She argued. "It's the best man that wins."

"And since I'm the man, I say you're beautiful, and you have to deal with it." I told her smugly, tucking my hands into my pockets so they wouldn't act on their own, and I stepped up to her, fronting her.

Erin rolled her eyes at me. "Whatever." She replied.

"Don't whatever me," I said haughtily

Erin sighed, and rolled her eyes, looking back up at me. "Don't say what you don't mean," she warned me.

I closed my eyes briefly, and then opened them back to her face, and squinted a couple times, blinking here and there. Where did she get this from?

I tilted my head downward and let out a breath.

Then, I brought my hands up to cup her beautiful face. "I've never said anything to you that was less than completely truthful and real." I told her, letting the words flow from straight from my heart, although I would never tell a soul that that's where they came from.

"That, Connor, is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." Erin told me bluntly, staring into my eyes without hesitation, and I could have kissed her right then and there, but my brain wouldn't let me lean into her.

I glanced from her chin to her lips, soft and pink, to her cheek bones that were connected to each other by a cute, small and round nose. Her eyes were perfectly balanced on either side of her nose, shining bright and blue. In her eyes, a faint jagged circle of white surrounded the pupil in her left eye, but the one in her right eye was greener.

I was about to tell her that it came from practice in the mirror, but someone saved me.

"HEY!" someone screamed at us from a distance in the woods, and my head snapped toward the sound.

The first thing I saw was a shadow coming at us pretty fast. It was a person, probably male because its shoulders were rather wide to belong to a girl.

Then, the stupid dim yellow light let Brandon through the shadows, and I groaned.  
"Seriously…!" I mumbled under my breath, but I was sure Erin heard me.

Brandon was marching toward them, his face set in stone as a angry, growling face, his red hair against his seemingly boiling skin.

Erin gripped by arm right below my elbow, and my skin erupted in goose-bumps from her cold hands.

"Dude, why are you still with my girlfriend?!" Brandon screeched, and Erin beside and below me took in air suddenly.

I frowned at the red-head as he approached us. I could be diplomatic about this.

"She's not your girlfriend, Brandon." I reminded him.

Brandon seemed to shake in his spot. "Yes, we are," he spat, and glared at Erin.

"No, I'm not dating you" Erin spat back with ferocity I'd never seen her with.

I looked down at her momentarily, then back at Brandon.

"Then you shouldn't have kissed me," He growled.

"So, if I kiss you, would we start dating?" I asked him, spitting out the first thing that came to mind and Erin held in a snort.

Brandon stared from Erin, to me, back to her.

I knew why he was mad. He'd taken all the girls since I could remember coming to this camp, and he wanted this one. The one that was rooming in _my_ cabin, the one that went to the party with him (which was the traditional pick up line for him), went, and still didn't want him. He'd never lost like that. Usually if they went to his parties, they were hooked, obsessed. I don't know how he did it, but he failed this time, and he couldn't take it.

Brandon glared at me, and to be honest, it was getting awkward. I know he was trying to scare me and all, but it wasn't working, and now we were all looking from one person to the other in a merry-go-round.

"Look," I said, breaking the silence and Erin grip tightened at the sudden noise.

"I know you're….mad at me." I said, searching for words.

"But I have to get Erin back. So, if you'll excuse us," I said, and pulled Erin's arm in front of me to lead her away.

Brandon's hand came down on my wrist like a vice. "You wait," he threatened me, but I let go of Erin's hand to punch him in the chest before he could get anything else out. "Get off," I spat at him. The hit I'd laid on him couldn't have hardly hurt, but it probably made him livid.

We left before I could find out.

------

Erin let Connor lead her away from Brandon safely, but not without punching him square in the chest for putting a hand on him.

She couldn't exactly describe how she felt. She was fuming because he _still_ thought that they were dating, for whatever reason she didn't know. He wouldn't leave her alone about it, and he was making a fool out of himself. If he kept it up, he'd give her a false reputation by following her everywhere, teeth bared and red faced.

Erin sighed once they were out of the light from the street-light.

"Thanks, I think," she said to Connor.

Connor looked down at her. "For what? Saving you from a complete and total creep?" he asked rhetorically. "No problem."

Erin nodded, not sure of what else to say. What could she say? There was this dude, once kind of attractive and now revolted her, who kept following her around like a stalker, claiming they were dating.

She'd never been in that predicament before. Most people usually confirm the 'dating' title after one of them has agreed verbally to date the other. Not after a kiss that really meant nothing.

Erin thought about the night before the last, covered in soda, probably dark soda, so she was sticky, and her face was a mess, being wet, so that meant mascara was streaking down her face. And she'd kissed him, a measly peck on the lips. He didn't even have time to pucker up. It was more like a that-totally-sucked-and-your-ex-is-crazy-but-thanks-for-trying kiss.

"Did you really kiss him?" Connor asked unexpectedly.

Erin lifted her eyebrows to look at him without turning her head much and shrugged. "Yeah. But it wasn't anything special. It was barely a peck. So I don't understand why he's all crazy about us dating." she explained, staring down the road in front of her. After a moment, Erin smiled up at him. "I'm sorry you have to go through this…" she said to him, her smile slowly fading with remorse.

Connor shook his head, and waved his hand through the air. "I'm glad to help out. I'm like your own personal Superman or something like that,"

Erin grinned. "Sounds good," she replied, light flooding back to her face.

They walked a little bit, maybe ten yards, before Connor broke the silence.

"So…besides the soda, how was the party?" he asked. Inside, he was burning to know. All these years, Brandon hooked girls at his parties. So what was so different about this one?

Erin shrugged one shoulder, then the next. "It was alright, I guess. Lots of smoke and drinks. I had water, I think." She added hesitantly.  
"So, you didn't have a good time?" he asked.

Erin made a face, and shook her head. "I didn't know anyone." She stated simply. "So, it was like dancing with, well, quite literally, a stranger."

"You danced with him?" Connor said, his tone getting anxious.

"Well, yeah. That's usually why you go to parties. To dance, and have a good time." She replied with a giggle.

Connor nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, trying to calm down.

Erin kicked a rock with the top of her shoe, and it flew away from them about fifteen yards, and landed with a _thunk_. It was completely dark outside, and the sky was a murky blue-black, speckled with stars.

"Pretty, aren't they?" Erin asked him, staring up at the sky.

Connor nodded without looking. "I know. It amazes me that they're so far away, what we're seeing is light from eight years ago."

Erin brought her chin down to look at him. "Really?" she asked him, amused. "Cool."

Connor smiled. "Yep. And a lot of the brighter stars you see are actually two and three and four stars that are hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles apart, but they're so far away, the distance makes them look like they're one star."

Erin looked at him again. "Okay, Mr. Smarty-pants, what's your favorite star?" she asked him.

Connor thought about it for a moment, one side of his face scrunching together in the middle. "I don't have _one_ favorite. But I really like Orion's Nebula." He said, and pointed into the sky. "See those stars?" he asked, and pointed out three in a semi-straight line. The middle star was the biggest.  
"Yeah," Erin replied, and the two came to a slow stop on the dirt road.  
"Well, that's Orion's belt. The middle is said to be his sword, and sometimes you can make out the entire constellation." He informed her.

Erin looked at him, whose face was now a couple inches over hers so he could point for her more accurately.

"How do you know all this?" she asked him.

Connor shrugged. "Books, science class, internet, news. I pay attention," he shrugged effortlessly.

"Ah," Erin replied, unconvinced. There was something about the kid that was strangely different. Not bad, but…different. He seemed to contain this awkward knowledge that really isn't the 'cool' thing for guys to know. He painted too, which also wasn't the coolest crayon in the box.

The two made their way home, and were greeted by Ben, Mike and Luke, who were playing spoons in the middle of the room.

Between the three of them, there were two metal spoons, which they'd clearly stolen from the Dining Hall, and they formed a triangle around it. Each had four cards in their hand, and they were passing cards around the circle as quickly as they could.

Suddenly, Mike reached forward and snatched a spoon from the middle, and Luke and Ben raced to get the last one.  
Luke was the victor, and Ben growled at him. "Take my spoon one more time, Luke," he half-yelled.

Erin laughed, and the boys looked at their roommates.

"Hey," Ben boomed in his low bass voice, followed by his baritone friends.

"Hey," Connor replied.

"What are you playing?" Erin asked, walking over to lean over Ben's shoulder.

"Spoons, want to play?" Mike asked, shaking his hair out of his face again.

Erin made a face. "I'll let you three demolish yourselves, and I'm gonna go check on Chris." She announced, and ran up the stairs with his take-out boxes.

Erin came to the top of the stairs, and saw Chris' side lamp on, and he was reading a book. He looked up once Erin came into view. "Hey," he said, half-asleep.

Erin smiled back at him. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked.

Chris shrugged. "Better. I called the nurse to come up here. She said I just strained muscles, and nothing's permanently fractured or messed up for a long time." He replied.

Erin winced. "I'm sorry. How did this happen?" she asked him, perching on the edge of his bed.  
Chris smiled mischievously. "I was running, and I tripped," he said, obviously giving her the hint that he'd prefer not to talk about it.

Erin nodded. "No more of that, mister," she said, wagging a finger at him.  
Chris smiled. "So, how was your day?" he asked.

Erin smiled and nodded. "Pretty good," she replied, set down his food, and lifted her shirt for him to get a full glimpse of her sunburn on her back.  
Chris made a sound by sucking air through his teeth. "Ouch," he said, skimming over her shoulder lightly to feel the burn. He retracted his fingers quickly. "That's bad," he observed.  
Erin nodded. "I was careless with the sunscreen," she admitted.

"That'll do it,"

Erin shrugged and stood up, searching her pockets for her phone.

"You stay at the pool all day or something?" he asked.

Erin shook her head. "No, we went to the Art Hall," she replied, and flipped open her phone. There were seven missed called from Andrew, and four texts regarding her whereabouts.

"I have to make a phone call," she told Chris, and sat on her bed, dialing her brothers' number.

Two rings.

"Erin, where have you been?!" Andrew demanded.  
Erin rolled her eyes. "I was a bit preoccupied. How are you?"

"PREOCCUPIED DOING WHAT?!" Andrew screamed into the phone so loud that Chris looked up from his book with raised eyebrows.

"Andy, relax. I went to draw." She said.

"Oh," Andrew replied, barely audible. "So…how was your day?"

Erin nodded, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder, and examined her nails.

"It was good, though I got sunburn today at the pool." She informed him.

"You didn't say you went to the pool," he snapped at her.

"So I need to give you a blow-by-blow?"

Silence.

"Anyway, I had burritos and cake for dinner." She offered.

"Mom made roast beast." Andrew replied, and Erin giggled.  
When they were little, Andrew, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't say 'roast' and 'beef' together. They'd settled for 'roast beast' and it stuck over the years.

"Mmmmm," Erin hummed, her mouth watering at the sound of her mothers' cooking, even though she was full from her own dinner.

"Yeah, you're really missing out here…" Andrew said in a voice that sounded like he was kicking back on an island paradise. "I got the bathroom all to myself, mom's cookies, the television, it's awesome."

"Oh yeah!" Erin said loudly. "I forgot all about mom's cooking. It's all the in back of my car."

Andrew snorted. "Some place for mom's cooking. You should be ashamed." Andrew scolded her.

She was ashamed. Her mother's cooking was extra-ordinary, even by professional chefs' standards. "I'll get it out tomorrow. If I get it out tonight, the boys will steal it," she replied, instantly regretting she's said anything.

"The boys?" Andrew asked. "You're still in that cabin with those hoodlums?" he asked.

Erin sighed. "Yeah. They're fine, they haven't touched me, and they're polite, so on and so forth. You'd get along with just about everyone I've met."

"Who wouldn't I get along with?"

Erin bit her lip. She couldn't very well lie to Andrew. But she would bet her last dollar that he'd drive up to Camp in a heart-beat to give Brandon a little pow-wow talk.

"Erin, tell me." Andrew demanded. He'd know that something was up now. She'd waited too long.

"Eh, some dude named Brandon or something." She replied, trying to play it off as nothing. Chris looked up at her again, openly staring at her.  
"Why wouldn't I like this guy?" Andrew asked, prying now.

"Because he's cocky. And he thinks he can get with everyone. You know that kind of guy." She replied casually.

"And he's trying to get with you. Look, Ere, I'll drive up there in a…"  
"I know, Andrew. But it's nothing to worry about." She tried to reassure her brother.

"Yes it is, if he's rooming with you, Ere, I don't like this guy…"  
Erin cut him off again. "He's in the cabin across the way. Ben scared him off, and Connor did the last time," she informed him.

Andrew sighed. "Well, if I hear anything more about this guy, I'm coming up there." He warned her.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Are you ever going to let me take care of things by myself?" she asked him impatiently.

"Why would you want to do anything when someone else who is bigger and stronger than you will do it for you?" Andrew asked playfully. "You need to reprioritize." He suggested.

Erin snickered. "Right. My big, bad, mean brother will come and beat up the little pervert for me?" she asked.

"He's being perverted with you!?" Andrew demanded, and Erin could see him jumping to the seat of his chair to be that much closer to getting his keys and starting his car.

"No," Erin replied, smiling at Chris, who was laughing.

"Look, I don't like anyone messing with my baby sister, alright?" Andrew defended himself.  
"You're hardly older than me," Erin retorted.  
"I am exactly,"

"Six minutes older than you," Erin completed with him. "I know, I know."

"Good. You would be protective over me if I was the younger one. But I'm not. And you are. So, this is how it has to be." Andrew confirmed.  
"Whatever you say. Hey, where's Mom?"

"Sleeping, actually. She was prescribed those new sleeping pills last week, and they're knocking her out like crazy. She's started snoring." Andrew added the last line in a whisper. Their mother never snored a day in her life.

Erin's eyebrows lifted. "Well, it's better than looking like she was for a while," she suggested.

"True, very true."

"Well, I'm gonna let you go. Minutes don't run cheap, and Mom has that new stupid plan, "  
"I know the plan, so…call tomorrow. And if you don't I'm coming down there."

"Yeah, right." Erin replied.

"I love you, Ere,"

"Love you too,"  
"Bye."

Erin hung up the phone.

"He sounds oh-so cuddly and squeezable." Chris said in a gooey tone.  
Erin rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it," she replied, just as sarcastically.

"So, he's coming down?" Chris asked.

Erin shook her head, and a corner of her lip lifted up. "No," she replied, and lay back on her bed. "He's threatening though." She added.

"You're twins?"

Erin nodded. "Yep. He's the older one, and he loves to rub it in my face for some reason. It's not as aggravating as it used to be."

"I can imagine that." Chris offered.

Then, someone pounded up the steps, and Connor jumped the last three. "What did I miss?" he asked, barely out of breath.  
"Actually, a very interesting conversation with Andrew." Chris replied.

Connor tilted his head. "Hmmm." He replied. "And what does Andrew have to say?" he asked.  
"Just that he'll come down here if I so much as sprain my little finger," he said, holding it up for Connor to see.  
"Well, we wouldn't want that, so for precautions, we should put you in a full body cast, just to be prepared."

"I don't think so," Erin replied, pushing Connor away from her with a laugh.

"No?" Connor asked, and dug his fingers into Erin's side, tickling her.

-----

Outside the door, Brandon stood, looking in. He saw four boys, Connor, the big black one and two others who were seemingly unimportant. Then, Connor disappeared up the stairs, and Brandon walked toward the bushes.  
After a minute, he heard laughing and squealing, which just aggravated him more. Connor would get it for stealing his girl.  
Even if he had to kidnap Erin make him pay.


	19. Chapter 19

Brandon stared across his dorm room, stoking the hair on the side of his head methodically. His blinkless gaze was fixed on something, although he couldn't pinpoint what exactly he was looking at. Not that he was paying any attention to much at all. Inside his head, little cogs were turning themselves around his brain, thinking of another solution, something more stealthy, something less noticeable. No doubt the brother would come rushing down to save his twin sister if he decided to go through with his initial plan and kidnap Erin.  
But kidnapping was so 1990's, and he needed something more modern, more unexpected. He didn't want to kill Erin, just make her sorry she dumped him, and went for Connor, and wanted to hurt Connor in a way he'd never before been hurt.  
Brandon had seen the look he was giving Erin earlier before he'd interrupted them; Connor was in love with Erin. And he barely even knew her.

Brandon shifted, his gaze becoming unlocked, and he laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling.  
Something, he must come up with something good. Something that won't cause the brother to come down and add more drama, something that Connor would be defenseless against, something something....  
And that's when he decided on a kidnapping, although if you could call it a 'kid'napping, since she was nearing legal age, he wasn't sure. It was so old school and expected that it was completely obvious that it was what they WOULDN'T be expecting.

So, he decided. I'll kidnap Erin, but what am I going to do with her?? How will I make Connor pay for stealing my girlfriend?  
"Hmmmm..." Brandon wondered out loud, rubbing his head back and forth.  
Then, a brilliant idea came to his mind. He could do what Connor did to him. He could make Connor watch him with Erin. He would tie Connor up to a chair, and make him watch while he kissed Erin, while he touched Erin, and who knew what else!! What a brilliant idea.

A smile folded it's way across Brandon's lips, and a glimmer shown through his eye. Now all he needed to do was find the right moment.

-~-

Erin lifted her head groggily to check the time. "Ugggh!" she moaned, and rolled over, right into Connor's bare chest, and Erin let out a muffled yip of surprise.  
Luckily, she hadn't woken Connor, and she rolled back over, trying to think of why the guy was in her bed, closer than any other guy had been for a night.

Then it came. The group had stayed up playing Egyptian Ratscrew all night, and by the time everyone was ready to go to bed, Connor was already passed out on her bed, so she'd climbed in on the opposite side, and fallen asleep.  
Erin rubbed her eyes, and looked over at the sleeping guy. His arm was under his head, supporting his pillow, and his hair danced when he blew air out of his mouth in a faint snore. Dark, long eyelashes lined his eyes, and freckles dotted his nose, though there weren't quite as many as there were on her own nose.  
As she observed, she felt the continuing longing to slide over and tuck her head under his chin, and lay in his curved body. She could almost feel a ghost of his arm laying around her waist, her back against his chest, his face in her straightened hair.  
As though on cue, Connor's breath caught a little, and his eyes fluttered open. Erin smiled at him, admiring the way his jaw was so masculine, so tight, with barely any stubble to shadow his mouth.

Connor looked Erin up and down, taking in his surroundings before he smiled at her too, rolled onto his back and stretched, groaning from unused muscles.  
"Good morning, sunshine," he said to her with a gust of morning breath, and his eyes got wide. "Ha," he laughed nervously, covering his mouth. "Sorry 'bout that."  
Erin just smiled at him with an amused look, and shrugged. Then, she threw back the covers and sat up. "Morning," she replied, looking around the room, seeing the other boys much like they had been the first morning Erin had seen them. Snoring, and sound asleep.

"So, why you up so early?" Connor asked her. Erin looked over her shoudler at him. "You're up just as early as I am." she replied calmly, and stood up.  
Connor followed suit. "Well, yeah, but I always get up this early. Even on Saturdays."  
Erin gave him a look. "Why?" she asked.  
Connor grinned boyishly and flushed red. "Saturday morning cartoons, why else?" he asked, and Erin giggled softly, making her way toward the stairs.  
Connor followed her like a puppy-dog follows its young master loyally. "So," he said once he left the bedrooms. Erin tuned around to face him once she was at the bottom of the stairs.  
"Are we going to finish your book?" Connor finished.  
Erin smiled at him, and shook her head. "No, I forgot it upstairs today." she replied, and motioned up the stairs with her head.

Connor sighed. "Oh, okay."  
"Why, do you like that book?" she asked playfully.  
Connor shook his head. "No, not particularly, I like sitting there with you, reading the book with your head on my chest."  
His blunt answer shocked Erin. She'd been expecting him to snort, and make excuses for liking a girlie book. "Oh," she replied, her head pulling back against her shoulders, and she looked around the cabin nervously.  
Connor laughed at her, and rolled a finger gently down her shoulder. "You want to go back to the Art Hall with me today?" he asked her, his eyes studying her face.  
Erin nodded. "Sure," she replied with a bright smile, looking up back into his dark hazeley eyes. "That sounds great." she added, and the feeling that consumed her body earlier was back, knocking on the door of her heart. She wanted to hug him, lean into his body, pull her arms into her chest and feel his arms wrap around her waist, and put his face into the nape of her neck. She could almost feel his breath on her cheek, loving the way that could feel.

Reality smacked her in the face just then. "Well?" he asked her brightly, his hands on her shoulders. He'd obviously asked her a question, and she'd completely missed it.  
"I'm sorry, I missed that. I was thinking of something else. What did you say?" she asked, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment.  
Connor's face fell, but only just so. "I said we should go now, and I can probably finish what I was painting by noon. If we leave now, anyway."  
Erin nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, sounds great." she said, and looked down at her dress; a tank top and short, black shorts. "I'll need to go and change though." she added.  
Connor pulled at his own tank-top. "Me too," he replied.  
Erin snickered, and pushed around him playfully. "I'll beat you." she taunted

-~-

Erin parked her car in front of the Art "Room" and turned off her car, turning all the knobs on her dash down.  
Connor gave her an odd look. "Why do you do that?" he asked her, examining the dash.  
Erin shrugged. "It's a habit. Something that my dad did, and so I do it." she replied simply.  
"Gotcha." Connor replied, and got out of the car.  
They quickly went inside to be bathed by the cool air. They were greeted by Theresa, the Art "Hall" lady, and they went to their corner in the side of the room.  
"Hey ya'll," she said with her thick southern accent. "Lemme know if you need anything," she added, and continued with her pot she was twirling around and around on it's small table.  
Connor lifted his hand, and pulled out his work from a cubby he'd stored it in the day before, and handed Erin her comic-strip.  
"You won't show me what you're doing?" she asked him, sticking her lower lip out.  
Connor shook his head. "Nope." he replied. "I'm show you when I'm done. I have to finish with the outline, and then start painting."  
"Oh, so you're going to paint?" she asked Connor, who nodded, clipping his page up to an easel, just as he had the day before, so he could still talk to Erin, but she knew they wouldn't talk much. When he got started, he concentrated.  
Erin settled down with her page of frames, and grabbed a can of markers fanned out in multiple colors, and started drawing, going off of nothing but inspiration.

Soon, her comic took on the role of a ninja, an old-style damsel in distress who wore an old country dress and bore an intricate umbrella with three curly strands of hair on either side of her head, and a hillbilly farmer with one tooth and overalls. She finished drawing the outline of all the characters by the time noon rolled around, and needed to fill in with color when Connor finally set his paintbrush down, and sat back.  
For the past three hours, he'd been furiously swishing his paintbrush around in water, squeezing more paint from a tube onto a sheet of paper, dipping the brush in there, and then wiping most of it off again. The paper around him was a mosaic of colors. Green, red, yellow, black, white, and blue mostly.  
"You done already?" she asked Connor, surprised.  
Connor looked over at her with an observing face. There was a swipe of blue under his chin, and a small, but completely noticeable yellow dot on his cheek, and another one on his lip. He nodded at her. "Yeah, I'm finished." he replied carefully.  
His eyes went back to his artwork, and Erin put her marker down. "Great." she announced. "Can I see?" she asked, bracing herself to get up.  
Connor surveyed her for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. It's for you anyway." he replied, and scooted his chair backwards.  
Erin got up. "What do you mean it's for me?" she asked, walking around to the front of the easel, and her breath caught in her throat.

He'd completed a portrait of her, and it was breathtaking. She was centered in the picture, and everything around her, what looked like windows was blurred somehow. She was settled onto a green backdrop, and her face was angelic. "This is me?" she asked, running a finger just over top of the picture.  
Connor nodded. "It is." he replied casually.  
Erin cleared her throat. There must have been ten different colors of blue in her eyes, which were focused on something beneath her, and her complexion was flawless. As much as it resembled her, it wasn't her. She had facial blemishes, and her nose was blotchy with freckles, and her eyes weren't that pretty. Her hair wasn't as lustrous, and definitely not as put in place as the portrait made her to be.  
She looked at Connor. "But why is everything so perfect?" she asked him, trying to word things just right so it wouldn't seem like she didn't appreciate his artwork.  
Connor squinted his eyes a little.  
"I mean, that can't be me. My hair is all out of place, and my eyes aren't that pretty, and my face is definitely not that clear." she made excuses.  
"Erin." Connor started. "An artist sees things in a very different way than another person does." he replied. "I look at things from a completely different angle than the regular person."  
"But I'm not all that regular, according to my counselor anyway, and this looks perfect to me." she said, pointing to the portrait of the beautiful girl that in no way, shape, or form could be her in a million years.  
Connor smiled at Erin, looked at his artwork, and back at Erin. "That's because you are perfect to me." he replied, and on the spot, Erin's heart melted.  
"I am?" she asked, her voice wavering. Her stomach was doing belly flops, and flip flips and any other flops that it could do as emotions swept over her body.  
Connor smiled, and picked up her hand. "Yes, you are."


	20. Chapter 20

Erin brought her hand to her mouth, utterly speechless. Before her, Connor had presented her with the most beautiful portrait ever, of her or anyone else, that she'd ever seen.  
What was she supposed to say? Complimenting the picture would seem like she was complimenting herself, and that would be egotistical, but if she said nothing, Connor would think that she didn't like it, and that was definitely not the case.  
"Connor, it's..." she paused, thinking for the right word, but she couldn't think of any but one.  
"It's beautiful."  
Connor smiled, and rubbed the top of her hand with his thumb in a smooth, even motion. "I'm glad you like it." he replied.

He said she was perfect to him. _Wow.  
_Erin searched for words to say. "I don't know what to say..." she told him honestly, looking from the painting to Connor, who blushed.  
"Say that you'll take it." he replied.  
Erin's stomach fluttered with butterflies. "Of course I'll have it." she replied, wishing she could lurch forward and hug him.  
"Thank-you." she said to him.  
Connor grinned. "You're welcome." he replied, and stood, his full height somehow amazing Erin in the process. She wasn't incredibly tall, 5'5", but he towered over her.  
As she was admiring his height, he pulled her hand toward him, and wrapped his arms around her back, leaning his head on hers.  
Erin nearly gasped. _He's hugging me,_ she thought. Slowly, her hands connected around his back, and she leaned into him, and sighed.

"You're an amazing artist." she told him into his shirt.  
"You're amazing." Connor replied, and pulled his head back to look at her. "And I mean that." he added.  
Erin's heart melted again, and she smiled at him. Her eyes drifted to his lips, and suddenly, she found herself wondering what it would be like to touch them. They looked soft and supple...they must be wonderful to kiss.  
And somehow, those lips seemed to be coming closer to hers. She looked up into Connor's eyes, and he was looking from her to her lips, coming in closer, asking permission.  
Erin leaned back in return, anxious to see what it was like kissing this mysterious mister. He seemed to be a punk, a kid who dated girls, but on the inside he was an artist.

_OH MY GOSH!!_  
His lips were only inches away, and all she had to do was push up on her tip-toes and lean forward.  
Erin leaned in even more, her heartbeat racing ahead of her, threatening to punch Connor in the chest.  
Electric currents waved down her spine when his breath pushed past her, and Erin started to close her eyes.  
Every fiber in her body wanted this, nothing could possibly be more important. Just Erin and Connor, that's it.

"Hey!" Came a loud voice, and Erin jumped, her head jamming into Connor's chin, and she could already see blood rushing to the surface.  
Erin, thoroughly embarrassed, quickly apologized and went to find a napkin.  
"You keep that PDA away from here," Theresa said with her southern twag, and Erin's mood changed drastically from wanting nothing more than to kiss Connor than to want nothing more than to ring Theresa's neck until she lost that twang of hers.  
Erin found a napkin, and dabbed Connor's lip. He let her for a moment, then pushed her hand away. "I'm alright," he informed her, seemingly angry.  
Casting her eyes down, Erin picked up her comic and rolled it up, stowing it away in a cubby, and started putting her drawing utensils away now, not daring to look at either of the two people in the room with her.  
When she was finished, she saw that Connor had rolled his portrait up, and it was secured under his arm.  
Could that ruined moment have changed his mind? Could he have decided that he didn't want her to have his picture anymore?

Hurt and confused by no one person, Erin led the way out of the Art Hall.  
To hell with that place. She never wanted to go there again.  
As she walked, Erin felt her throat closing up, and breaths come in short sips.  
_Oh no, not here..._ she moaned  
Honestly, she didn't really even know why she was crying.  
Or about to anyway.  
Erin kept at a steady pace, conscious that Connor was behind her still, and kept her head down, watching the road in front of her.  
Obviously it wasn't meant to be.  
She'd not even been there a week, for Pete's sake, how could she already be kissing someone?  
_I kissed Brandon..._ she thought, and immediately grimmaced.

Mistake number one in her book was kissing that creep. Even if it was the nice thing to do.  
Erin spotted a large pebble lying innocently in the road, took a preparatory step, and swung her left foot, launching the pebble into the air and across the road into the trees.  
It actually kind of made her feel better.  
She spotted another pebble large enough to get a good kick at with the side of her shoe, and imagined it was all the negative feelings she was observing at the moment.  
One by one, they all got kicked away until she couldn't think of anything else to kick away.  
There was one for stupidity, there was one for letting romance get the better of her, there was one for coming to this stupid camp in the first place.  
If she hadn't have urged her mother to send her to this camp, she'd be sitting at home with Andrew, probably doing nothing, but she'd feel better than she did now.

Why did she even want to kiss Connor in the first place?  
_'Because he's a player!'_ she heard the good side of her scream in her head.  
Erin rolled her eyes. Of course he'd tell her that she was perfect to him.  
It was all part of the plan. To use her. To get to her.  
But another part of her wanted it to be true, and that was what really hurt.  
Erin knew she could like this kid. He was sweet, very handsome, masculine, and funny. He could draw, he had a great body, and he cared.  
Or at least that was his front.

Erin took another swing, this time kicking a rock that was buried deeper in the ground than she thought, and came tripping to a stop, hollaring out about her toe which had promptly started throbbing.  
She cursed, and regained her balance.  
"You okay?" she heard Connor right behind her, and Erin whipped around, her hair stinging her in the face.  
"I'm fine." she snapped, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Just fine." she reiterated, and stomped off, leaving Connor behind her.  
Connor, from what she could here, had not moved.  
She got maybe thirty feet away, still moving as fast as a marching walk would take her, when he called her name.

"Erin..." he called out to her, and something in his voice made her slow down.  
It wasn't a demanding 'Erin', it wasn't a pleading 'Erin'...there was something else.  
Erin looked around her, and figured it out. He was hurt.  
Erin stopped in her tracks, and turned a 180.

Connor was facing her, arms held limply by his side, and his eyebrows were meeting in the middle.  
Even from the distance she was at, Erin could tell he wasn't mad. He was upset.  
"Connor..." she said helplessly, and took a couple steps forward.  
Connor began walking toward her cautiously, like someone who was approaching a wild cat, and was trying to pet it.  
Erin waited until he was closer.  
"What's wrong?" Connor asked her clearly.  
Again, Erin's throat started to close up, and her eyes took on the familiar stinging feeling.

"Connor, I...I can't do this." she muttered.  
"Do what?" he asked her. "We didn't even kiss." he added, throwing his hand out next to him toward the Art Hall.  
Erin nodded. "I know. And...the way you're making me feel, and the animosity that's going on in the cabin...I can't do it. I won't."  
Connor stepped forward. "Why do you care so much about how they feel or what they think?" he asked her, reaching out for her shoulder.  
Erin sighed. "Connor...it's just moving too fast." she said, and stepped away from his grasp.  
"I hope we can stilll be friends." she said, backing away from him, her heart breaking with every step. "But I don't think you're going to want to talk to me anymore." she said, turned around, and headed for the office.

-~-

Erin walked the mile and a half to the main office, and went through the door, a little bell ringing her presence.  
The same lady who first signed her in walked out from behind a door covered with a sheet.  
"Oh, well, hello Erin!" she said brightly. "How are things going in that cabin?" she asked.  
Erin faked a smile, which really took her a lot of strength considering she just wanted to sit down and cry.  
"About that..." Erin hinted casually. "I was wondering if the isolation cabin is still open?" she asked kindly.  
"Oh," the old lady said, her lips forming a wrinkly oval. "Well, there's one person in there, but you can have the other spot. I take it things aren't going so well for you." she said.  
Erin nodded silently, afraid that if she spoke, she wouldn't be able to resist the flood from her eyes.

The old lady got to tick-tacking on her computer, and in no time, Erin had the key to the isolation cabin in her hand. "Thank you," she said briefly, and left without hearing anything else.

The walk back felt longer than the walk to the main office. It was probably because Erin was upset earlier, and walked faster than she realized.  
Now, she was as a slow amble, making her way to D-13.  
To be honest, Erin really couldn't understand why she was feeling the way she did.  
Maybe it was because she had only been there for three days, and Connor was already making her stomach erupt in butterflies whenever she saw him.  
Maybe it was because the guys had to form a secret pact to keep the cabin sane.  
Maybe it was because she was so afraid of loving someone and losing them, the thought of getting intimate with someone really scared the hell out of her.

Whatever the reason, Erin knew that getting out was the best answer for her at the moment. Just until she could sort things out and get a grip on her mentality.  
She came to the porch of the cabin that was formerly hers, and opened the door.  
Ben was the first person to see her. "There she is," he announced.  
"Where were you?" Chris asked, obviously feeling a lot better.  
Erin looked up with dead eyes. "I was getting a cabin change." she said, her voice as dead as her eyes.  
Before anyone could say anything, she was up the stairs.

Erin drug out her suitcase from under the bed and began throwing clothes in there, not really caring if they were folded or not.  
Chris came up the stairs. "Hey," he said gently. There was a hint of care in his voice that made Erin want to scream at him for no reason at all.  
"What's wrong?" he asked.  
"You know?" Erin asked, turning around to face him. "Why does something have to be wrong with me?" she asked, but immediately stopped.  
This wasn't his fault.  
Maybe she was PMSing. That's a valid reason as to why she was feeling all these things.  
Chris looked deeper into her eyes. "Okay...what's going on?" he reworded his question.

Erin sighed. "It's too much right now." she explained, her hands flopping at her side.  
"The guys, the testosterone, and frankly, I'm tired of being fought over when I was never with anyone to begin with." she said.  
Chris smiled. "Okay. So, you're leaving because we're guys?" he asked.  
Erin shrugged. It wasn't like she was going to delve into the story about her father again. Connor had already asked about it, knew about her dad, but no one really knew the depth of the story.  
"Yeah," she said, thinking it was the best answer she could come up with.  
"I don't want you to go." Chris offered quietly.

Erin turned to him, ready to tell him that it wasn't his or any of the other guys' faults, and she was just uncomfortable. They were great friends and all, but it was putting too much stress on her to stay.  
She really wanted to say that. But for some reason, tears slipped down her face instead, and her face was in Chris' chest, his arms around her waist.  
Chris stood there, his chin on her forehead, and he rocked slightly back and forth.  
Erin sniffled, letting the tears run, and she could feel Chris' deep thrum in his chest when he spoke.  
"It's alright, Erin." he told her.  
Erin lifted her head to smile at him, and found his lips on hers, gentle, soft and caressing.

[you read, you review please. It's not AMAZING! because I've got writer's block, so bear that in mind when you click REVIEW THIS STORY!!]


	21. Chapter 21

Erin let Chris kiss her for a while. It was like a blanket of security had enveloped her in it's warmth and softness, and for that moment, she felt like he really cared.

Truth be told, although Erin didn't know it, her mentality was on the verge of a breakdown.

She needed to be talked to and cared about. And Connor would've offered that.

But Erin was too confused to accept it willingly, and when Chris kissed her, it was something that Erin couldn't get out of. She couldn't accept it, he'd given it to her.

He'd given the security and the bond she needed without running to it.

Then, Chris pushed Erin away.

She scanned him with curious eyes. "What?" she asked, and Chris shook his head.

"I can't do this," he told her, making no gesture to release her from his hold.

Erin gave him a questioning look.

"You're leaving because of me. Because of Connor. Because of what we've caused you to deal with." he said.

"And I'm tired of hurting, both myself and you." he added, and kissed her forehead.

"Come. I'll help you pack." he said.

Ordinarily, helping another person pack is an insult. This time, Chris was helping Erin to help herself.

Erin decided to leave the glade air freshener in the bathroom. A token of her appreciation and her donation to the boys.

When she was finished, she lugged one suitcase down while Chris grabbed the bigger.

Without a word, she went down the stairs and toward the door, ignoring Ben, who stood up. Erin opened the door, and left the D-13 without looking back.

Chris helped her load the trunk, and hugged her good-bye, leaving, and shutting the door.

_That's not my cabin anymore,_ Erin couldn't help thinking.

_Andrew is going to love this._ she added, and turned to her car.

Something on the windshield caught her eye.

She lifted her wipers, and picked up two pieces of paper, seemingly that had once been one, and now was two.

She studied the drawing with a saddened heart.  
She hadn't meant to hurt Connor like this.

The next few weeks were slow ones. Erin's roommate, a girl who had gone streaking on a dare, was a fun and wild-child kind of girl, but Erin couldn't bring herself to go prank the girl's friends in the middle of the night.

"Come on, Erin. It'll be fun." she'd begged her one night at about 3:00.

"No, Mandy, I just don't want to go." Erin mumbled back, half asleep.

Mandy ran over to Erin's bed and started jumping on it, moaning, "come on! Come on!"

Erin gazed at her clock with the Devil's eyes.

"How did you get stuck in the isolation cabin anyway? You're no fun. You couldn't have done anything stupid."

Erin smirked. If she only knew what Erin was capable of. None of this streaking or pranking friends in the middle of the night business. It was hardcore stuff, like...putting neon pink dye in their shampoo bottles,and putting ex-lax in between their lettuce and tomato on a sandwich. It was drawing on their face with multiple colors of permanent marker when they slept. It was a ketchup and mustard fight and shanking them in the pool. Of course, this was when she wasn't depressed and sleeping all the time, like she'd been lately.

"Mandy, I promise, if you don't get off my bed and leave me alone now, you'll have green hair and a face to match it in the morning." Erin threatened dryly.

After careful consideration, Mandy slid off the bed and went to sit on hers, the cringing sqeak of the rusty bed springs as she sat.

Soon, Erin was asleep again, haunted by the black-and-white dreams of void she'd been having.

Every night, they'd been dreams about being lost, never finding her way, or finding something that she knew wasn't there, but searching for it anyway.

They were a little like nightmares, coming back one after another after another.

Sure, they weren't scary. She was never trapped in a box being chased after by a giant tarantula, but after a couple nights, the lost feeling was starting to affect her awake life as well.

Erin's days were quite monotonous. Woke up, skipped breakfast in favor of crossword puzzles and Oreos whilst sitting on her bed.

Around lunch time, she'd get up after Mandy pestered her for a while, and ate lunch with Mandy at the isolation table in the far corner of the cafeteria.

She often watched the boys up on the second level, laughing and joking around, but she never saw Connor, whom she found herself searching for a lot.

This particular day, Mandy happened to catch Erin watching the boys.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, her mouth full of apple, and turned around to look in Erin's general direction.

"Those boys," she replied.

"Ooooh, you like one of them?" asked Mandy deviously.

Erin shook her head slowly, making an 'eh' face.  
Mandy seemed disappointed. "Oh," she mumbled, taking a bite of her macaroni.  
But still, Erin watched them. And then her eyes grew big.  
For months, Connor had been absent from the table. There were even rumors that he'd left the camp for good.  
But there he was, sitting with Ben, Chris, Mike and Luke, laughing like he'd never missed a day.

He didn't even look at her. Not a glance, not a glimmer. Not even any sign that he was trying not to look over at her.  
He had to know she was there. Everyone knew she was in the isolation cabin. Some people thought she was there because she'd caused Connor to get kicked out of the camp.  
But there he was, and she was still sitting at the table.  
Miserable as ever before.

"What?" Mandy asked, seeing the difference in Erin's behavior. "Tell me," she said greedily, looking up at the boys.  
"Nothing," Erin replied, trying to remain calm. He was there; he came back. But why? Something had changed. He didn't like her anymore.  
"You like him," Mandy concluded, looking at Erin with devious eyes.  
"What?" Erin snapped out of her reverie. "No," she added quickly.  
Mandy snickered. "Hmm Mmm, sure," she replied, licking her spoon. "Does he know?" she asked deviously.  
"We don't talk," Erin stated simply, pushing around her food.  
"Well you should."  
"Mandy, we just don't, okay?"

Mandy sighed. "So he's why you're so sluggish." she announced.  
Erin gave Mandy a confused look. "I just told you that we don't talk," she told her slowly.  
"Exactly. And you're upset with that. You want to talk to him, you want to get to know him. People say that you got him kicked out of Camp Harvey!." Mandy told her, and Erin rolled her eyes.  
"If he was kicked out, it wasn't because of me," she said.  
Mandy shrugged. "Alright. There's no reasoning with you. Oh, I wanted to let you know I'll be out of the isolation cabin tomorrow. Counselor told me today. So, you'll be alone until I do something bad again," she said with a laugh.  
"Great," Erin replied, trying to take a bite.  
It tasted great, the macaroni did. But nothing like home.  
She missed her home.

Andrew called that night.  
"Hello?" Erin answered normally.  
"Ere, what's wrong?" Andrew asked right off the bat.  
Erin almost jumped. "Nothing, why?"  
"You sound upset. What's wrong?" he asked again.  
"Andy, I said nothing."

Mandy looked up now. "Who's Andy?" she asked.  
Erin rolled her eyes and tossed her hand at Mandy, telling her to go away.  
"Alright. I'm just worried about you. You're not yourself since you moved into the isolation cabin with that girl. What's her name again?" he asked.  
Erin sighed. "Don't ask," she instructed.  
"Alright. So what have you been doing lately?"  
Erin blew air out of the corner of her mouth. "Uhm...breakfast in the cabin, lunch, sometimes going to the pool, shower, and dinner in bed." she said.  
Andrew didn't say anything.  
"Andy?"  
"Erin." Andrew replied flatly.

Now she was going to get it. Andrew and the famous lecture.  
"I wish you'd have fun there, Ere." he said. "You're wasting Mom's money by sitting in your cabin all day doing nothing. I'd almost rather you were in the cabin with those hoodlums."  
Erin cringed then. That was one of the worst things Andrew could say to her.  
Being in the cabin, breaking her heart was one of the 'best' things that had happened to her.  
Hardly.

"Look, Andy, I gotta go." she said.  
"Good." Andrew replied. "Maybe you'll wake up with some sense in your head. We love you. Bye."  
and Andrew hung up.

[Read, and review. Otherwise, you're basically telling me that you don't like what you're reading. That's how I interpret your non-reviewness.]


	22. Chapter 22

Erin layed in her bed. The sunlight shown through the cracks in the used blinds above her, and, of course, were shining straight in her face. She groaned, covered her eyes with one arm, and layed there for a while.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Mandy said to her from across the room. Erin peeked out from under her arm.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked her, surprised.  
"I'm leaving today," Mandy reminded her.

"Oh yeah..." Erin trailed off. Being with Mandy since she left the boys' cabin had been basically a God-send to her, despite how much Mandy annoyed her. She'd kept Erin from going to the brink of desolation and depression.

And now she was leaving. Lovely.  
"I'm almost done," Mandy informed her carefully, as thought she almost didn't want to say the words.

Erin sighed and pulled herself up into a sitting position. "You going back to your old cabin?" she asked Mandy, who nodded in reply.  
"Yeah," she sighed. "Unfortunately, they're all full up, and they can't just kick someone else out of another cabin to make way for me." she announced. "So that means that I'll probably be back here in no time," she added, and shot Erin a smile.

Erin returned the pretty girl's grin. "I don't doubt that," she replied.

Mandy tilted her head. "You know, it's really a shame I'm leaving now," she said to Erin, studying her.

"Why's that?" Erin asked, genuinley interested.

"Because." Mandy said, as if that was her only answer. But after a moment, she continued, shaking her head, and going back to her packing.  
"These last few days you've been actually fun to be around." she said. "Not that you're not fun in the first place," she added quickly to avoid an insult. "But it's like you've let loose a little bit."

Erin shrugged. "Maybe I'm just tired of being a shellfish." she suggested with a shrug, and kicked her legs up onto the window ledge, laying back onto her bed.

Mandy finished her packing, and the two girls spotted the counselor making his way up the gravel path to their cabin to escort Mandy away to her old cabin.

Mandy stood up and pulled Erin into a hug. "I'm going to miss you," she said to Erin, squeezing her tightly.  
Erin patted Mandy's back. "Come say hi to me when I actually decide to go to lunch, okay?" she asked with a laugh.

"Sure," Mandy replied, and went to pick up her bag.  
The counselor knocked on the wood frame of the screen door. "Amanda Thatcher?" he called.  
Mandy almost cringed at her full name. "Yeah," she said grudgingly. "That's me," she added. "I'm ready, don't harp me,"

Mandy lugged her suitcase out the door, gave Erin a fleeting last look of farewell, and followed the counselor to his golf cart at the bottom of the hill.

Erin watched them go, wondering if she was losing her only friend-figure at camp.

When the golf cart peeled away, Erin went back to her bed and sat on it.

It was a simple cabin, nothing like the one she'd previously been in. There was two beds on either side of the room, a small closet designated for each bed at the foot of the bed, a night stand to share between them, and a bathroom located right in between the two closets. Nothing like the old cabin, but Erin almost preferred it this way.

There was no 'thump thump thump' of people stomping down the stairs, and no one could snuggle on the couch before everyone else was up in the morning. Erin could see anyone that approached her cabin, and the nearest cabin that belonged to a group of people was a mile or so down the road.

Erin looked out the window. The day was cooler than usual, running around 72 degrees, and breezy. Two birds flitted past the window singing and chirping, and a grasshopper was stuck to the pole outside.

'It's too nice to stay inside,' Erin thought.  
But what was she going to do? Swimming was hardly an option. Who wants to go to the pool alone?

Sports weren't really in the equation either because they'd pick her last for teams, or she'd be completely ignored.

She could go and learn to quilt, but seriously, she hadn't sunked that low yet.

'The Art Hall.' Something told her in her brain and before she knew it, Erin was putting on her shoes and was out the door before she could think twice about it.

Of course, the Art Hall was two miles down the road, and she didn't have a golf cart.

She stopped at the bottom of her hill, and looked back up to her cabin. It wasn't remotely locked, but she wasn't worried about anyone breaking in. Who would go a mile out of their way just to ransack her little cabin?

An idea struck Erin and she went back up the hill, changed into running shorts and a regular t-shirt, and grabbed her ipod. Once she hit the bottom of the hill, Erin started jogging.

She passed squirrels and girls in bikinis giggling amongst themselves. She passed campfires (which as an isolation cabin resident, she wasn't allowed to attend) and the gym where a bunch of guys in shirts and skins were playing basketball, shining from sweat.

She passed the trades center and the Games Hall and the Pool until finally she reached civilization, but she kept going. In order for her to get to the Art Hall, she'd have to pass her old cabin, D-13 in the males side of the camp.  
Determined not to look as she past she pretended to look for a new song while she passed. When she looked up, she found Brandon walking toward her, staring straight at her. He flagged her down, waving sparatically, and smiling at her.

Erin frowned, but stopped, and pulled an earphone out of her ear.

"What?" she asked him, her breathing fairly regulated, but definitely not what it used to be.

"I just wanted to say hey," Brandon said to her.

_You wanted to say hey. He stopped me because he wanted to say hey._ Erin thought bitterly.

"Well, that's nice, but I gotta go." she announced, and went to go around around him Brandon sidestepped her, and was in front of her again.

"Okay, actually, I wanted to apologize for everything that happened last month." he announced.

_Has it already been a month?_ Erin asked herself. The days in the cabin passed much slower than when she was in D-13.

"I wasn't on my medication and I'm a bit bipolar." Brandon admitted.

"A bit." Erin snapped, and immediately regretted it. She hadn't meant to say it; it just slipped out.

"Yeah." Brandon replied, looking honestly remorseful. "I kind of got out of hand. And I'm sorry for that." he said.

Erin nodded, slightly touched by his sincerity, although she didn't want to admit it.

"And I hope you'll forgive me for going so wack." he added.

Erin nodded. "Yeah. It's cool," she said.

Honestly, she was having mixed feelings about the whole thing in general.

"Alright, well, I'll let you go back to your running," he said.

Erin nodded, and put her earphone back in, not bothering to say goodbye.

So he was remorseful? _But seriously? He was a complete psycho a month ago. He ran around screaming at everyone to leave me alone because he thought we were dating. Oh, I should have never gone to that party with him. If I hadn't none of this would've ever happened, and maybe Connor and I would still..._

She thought about him. Over the past few weeks, Erin had trained herself not to think about Connor and their oddly-ended friendship. It was like an open wound that, when left alone, started to scab over and heal into an ugly scar. But when he ever came into her thoughts, the wound was reopened and fesetered and ached.  
Erin felt so bad for hurting him the way she did, and she still didn't know what really went wrong between them. It was confusing. Brandon was so prominent in her life then and she was constantly on the lookout for the creey-stalker-dude so she could hide from him, and Chris was at war with Connor, and Ben was like Old Father trying to make everyone play fair, but Connor was totally and outright flirting with Erin and she liked it, and then she tried to kiss him, but was completely embarrassed by the Texas-twang girl whose name she couldn't remember in the Art Hall, and then of course she went into defense mode.

Erin ran around a pothole in the ground, her eyes plastered to it, her breathing coming faster and faster as she picked up speed unconsciously. Her mood was fueling her running, anger ripping through her like electrical currents. Truthfully, since she left D-13, Erin hadn't had a proper moment to just be angry about everything. Going away to camp was supposed to be relaxing, a getaway. She was supposed to be smiling and laughing like the kids in the pictures in the main office. She was suppossed to be happy.

But she wasn't. And that made her mad.

By the time Erin reached the Art Hall, she was practically sprinting. She stopped at the stairs, panting for breath, watching everything throb in and out of her vision before her until she caught her breath. She bent over to stretch her hamstrings, her calves, and her groin muscles, then went inside.

The cool blast of air slapped her in the face, but Erin liked it. She looked at the Texas-twang girl, her name instantly coming back to her. "Theresa, can I have a drink of water?" she asked.

Theresa looked up, surprised to see her there. "Oh, yes darlin', of course you can." she replied, standing up and going to the mini-fridge in the corner, pulling out a chilled bottle of water and tossed it to her.

"How have you been?" Theresa asked.  
"I've been better, as have we all. Yourself?" Erin replied, and plunged into her bottle of water, savoring the cold liquid that splashed against her teeth and soaked her tongue.

"Oh, I'm alright. Just coming here everyday. It's been getting a little boring. Honestly, after you left, people stopped coming as much. Maybe that's because they've just started a new swim class. Speaking of which, where have you been?" Theresa asked.

"You haven't heard?" Erin asked, using the last of her air to force the words out before taking a deep gasp of delicious artificial air. Panting slightly still, Erin went to sit at Theresa's work station.

"No," Theresa replied. "Well, I've heard rumors, but those are silly." she added, waving her hand in the air.

Erin smiled at Theresa's downhome twang. In person, it didn't sound so bad. "I asked to be put in the isolation cabin." she replied.

Theresa's face remained calm. "Oh," she replied. "I was told that you were put there. And since Connor left, I could only assume that it had something to do with him."

Erin shrugged. _Thinking about him twice in one day. I'm going on a record, _she thought.  
"It was about him, but not because of him." she said indifferently. "I mean...I like the isolation cabin more. I was in there with Mandy, who just moved out today, but still. I needed some estrogen." she said with a small laugh.

Theresa giggled. "Yeah, I suppose I see where you're coming from. Connor's just recently started coming back, you know." she said, suddenly revered.

Erin looked at her with a look that said, 'please.'

"I saw what you did to his picture, too." Theresa continued.

Erin closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Three times was getting to be far too many.

"Erin...why? Was it because I yelled at you two? I felt so bad after I did that because it was so cute, but you're really not supposed to have any PDA here at Camp Harvey!, so I was only doing my job."

Erin faked a smile. "Yeah. We..uhm...he...well..." How could she explain it without seeming like a heartless snob?

"I uhm...don't really know why I did it," Erin started to explain. Theresa didn't make any move to judge her, but she listened intently. "He kind of hurt me...but I didn't really know how to deal with everything that was going on at the time. I mean...I divulged a lot to him about my personal life, and then...things just went sour for no apparent reason. And I didn't want to think of him, but I couldn't tell him to his face. So I guess I ripped it so that maybe in a way, he'd stop thinking about me too, and we both could stop hurting." she said, trying to explained her crazy way of thinking.

"I don't get it," Theresa said carefully.

Erin made a face. "I really wasn't at all sane at that time. Everyone was mad at me and everyone wanted me to be with them, and I couldn't justify being with one person and hurting another. So...I was basically ripped into a couple different pieces at the time of that incident." she explained.

"Oh," said Theresa.  
"I understand."

But Theresa wasn't the one who said it. Behind her, the curtain moved, and Connor stepped out from behind it, looking at her darkly.


	23. Chapter 23

Erin looked up at Connor, who was staring down at her with dark eyes.  
He looked mad at her, angry with something she said.  
Erin looked from Theresa to Connor, water welling up in her eyes.  
Then, she huffed, defeated, and let her head bury itself into her arms on the table in front of her.  
Theresa looked at Connor, who hadn't taken his eyes off Erin .  
Was this the wrong idea? Connor had been stuck when Erin came in. He'd come to the Art Hall that morning to relax and draw. So when Erin stopped by, it was either let her see him or let him hide until she was gone.  
Theresa hadn't planned on Connor coming out from behind the curtains.

Then, Erin looked up.  
"I'll see you later," she said to no one in general, stood up, and started toward the door.  
" Erin ," Connor called, but she didn't stop. Erin walked out the door without a second glance.  
He looked down at Theresa, who was frowning at him.  
"What?" he asked.  
"You made this mess." Theresa growled at him. "Now you go after her and fix it." she added, and looked down at her work.

Erin stomped out the door, pulling her ipod out of her shirt and stuffing it in her ears.  
She put it on random, and started running, faster than she normally would have started.  
_First off....why would Theresa do that? I just told her everything that went on, and she has the nerve to let Connor pop out of the cabinet like a Christmas present from no where._

_The first song that came on her ipod was Need you now by Lady Antebellum_

_Picture perfect memories,  
Scattered all around the floor.  
Reaching for the phone cause, I can't fight it any more.  
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind  
For me it happens all the time._

Erin could hear Connor saying her name in her memories. Calling her from upstairs, saying her name while they were reading The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants, laying on his chest.  
Him holding her hand while she walked on the log, grabbing her waist at the slightest hint that she might fall. Telling him the story about her dad, that heartbreaking time for her which she still wasn't completely recovered from.  
_Andy was right..._ She thought to herself, rounding a corner.  
' Erin ...'

_It's a quarter after one,  
I'm all alone and I need you now.  
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now.  
And I don't know how I can do without, I just need you now._

Erin thought back to the first time she and Connor were in the Art Hall alone. Secretly, Erin had had a hard time keeping her eyes off of Connor, who was so studious and concentrated, drawing his secret drawing. Once or twice, he had caught her eye, and she'd blush and return to drawing her lines for her comic strip.

Handing her the picture he'd made her and feeling her stomach drop all over again. The beauty of the colors he'd blended together so perfectly, the amazing replication of a face that seemed to belong to her but was too beautiful to possibly belong to her, feeling the empty feeling stomping away from him and toward the main office to switch her cabins.

' Erin ….'

_Another shot of whiskey, can't stop looking at the door.  
Wishing you'd come sweeping in the way you did before.  
And I wonder if I ever cross your me it happens all the time._

Walking into D-13 to get her stuff and leave hoping that she didn't see him. Chris kissing her and feeling the void in her heart like a ripping black hole in her body. Ripping Connor's picture; breaking her heart.

' Erin !'

_It's a quarter after one,  
I'm a little drunk,And I need you now.  
Said I wouldn't call but I lost all control and I need you now.  
And I don't know how I can do without, I just need you now._

Erin slowed a little. That voice was so close, like her subconscious was screaming at her, creating voices in her head. This was how people described dying. The voices of the one they love saying their name in their heads, so clear it was like they were right next to them.

' Erin !'

_Yes I'd rather hurt than feel nothing at all._

She was dying. There was a hole in her heart that kept getting bigger, and soon, it was going to consume her. The black hole was going to suck her away from the inside out. She was already becoming an empty corpse, walking around without purpose, just pretending to be there. She was observing activities without care, without really understanding them. She was eating just to fulfill her human body, since that all she was now.

' ERIN !'

_It's a quarter after one,  
I'm all alone and I need you now.  
And I said I wouldn't call but I'm a little drunk and I need you now.  
And I don't know how I can do without,  
I just need you now.  
I just need you now.  
Oh baby I need you now._

No wait. That voice was real. There was nothing imaginary about it.

Erin stopped, took long steps to come to a halt, and turned around.  
Connor was jogging up to her, slowing down as he came.  
So she wasn't dying. Connor had been calling her the entire time. But that didn't change the way she felt about herself. She still hurt; the black hole was still eating her.

Connor came up to her, breathing slightly heavy, but still regulated, and pulled her earphones out of her ears.  
The sad song had disappeared from her ears, and now Connor's voice filled her ears.

"I've been calling you for like three minutes." he told her. "You're actually really fast." he added with a slight grin.  
Erin didn't smile. Was there any reason to? All he was going to do was apologize to her for eavesdropping.  
"You don't have to apologize," she informed him, feeling the wetness on her cheeks suddenly.  
She hadn't realized she'd been crying. It must have been the song.  
Connor's eyes went from her face to her eyes. "I'm not sorry," he said to her bluntly, touching her arm.  
Erin wrenched herself from his touch. "Well, you don't have to explain why you're not sorry either," she snapped.

Connor smiled at her, and for some reason, his happy smirk made Erin want to slap it straight off his face.  
How could he be happy? She was having the worst time of her life at a camp that was supposed to leave her happy and relaxed; all because of him.

"What do you…"  
"Just listen to me." Connor interrupted her, not giving Erin the chance to be nasty.

Erin sufficed with a "What?"  
Connor drew in a deep breath. "I don't know what's wrong." he started._  
You're not the only one,_ Erin thought bitterly.  
"And I'm trying to make it better, but I don't know how. I don't know how to talk to you, how to tell you what I'm feeling." he said.  
"You're so…distant. It's like we were never friends, like we never knew each other. And I don't like that, Erin ."  
Erin felt her stomach weaken, not so acidic anymore. Hurt flashed across her eyes as she looked him in the eyes.

"I want to be friends, Erin. I was so…no. Let me rephrase that. I want _you_ to want to be friends. I've been trying to understand what I did wrong, and I can't come up with anything. Did I offend you? Did you want to be with Brandon ?"  
Erin shook her head quickly. "No," she told him.  
"Then what did I do to make you hate me?"  
Erin looked at him with watery eyes.

_You made me fall for you._ That was the real answer. But Erin knew she'd never say that to him. After all the pain, Erin had lied to herself so many times, that she was starting to believe the lies about not liking Connor.  
Not wishing he was there. Not wishing Theresa hadn't been there.  
Connor looked at her, waiting for her answer.  
Erin, with disgust, turned her back on him and went to walk away when his hand caught her firmly on the shoulder and whirled her around.

"You're not leaving until I get an answer." he told her, anger making his nostrils flare.  
"Why do you think I should give you one?" Erin demanded him, putting her hands on her waist.  
"You're treating me like you hate me, I deserve one." Connor replied with a snap.  
"I don't hate you." Erin informed him like it was common sense, squinting her eyes at him.  
"It sure seems like it."  
"Sucks for you."

"See!" Connor yelled. "If you don't hate me, why would you do this? I don't understand, Erin. Sometimes, I wish we'd have never met, and maybe I wouldn't hurt so bad."  
Erin's expression softened as he spoke, and at the end of his sentence, her heart broke.  
"You...really wish that?" she asked gently.

Connor kicked the ground. "Yeah, I do. Erin," he looked up. "I went home for a couple weeks. I couldn't handle being here, and I thought that maybe, if I left and you wouldn't have to see me, that you'd go back and be Erin again. But no. You're not Erin. And yes, I wish I hadn't have met you."  
"Why?" The word barely came out in the hoarse whisper that Erin managed to choke out.  
"Because. All I did while I was gone was think of you. At the pool, reading, walking, drawing, talking with you...I couldn't think of anything else. And I thought, that maybe, when I came back, we'd be cool again. But we're not. And it hurts, and I'm tired of it."

Erin looked down at her fingernails. He sounded...hurt. He was saying things that most guys wouldn't admit unless they were going to marry the girl. But he was just letting it out like it was a play-by-play in football.

"So..." Connor interrupted the silence. "I want to know why you hate me. And then I want to know if I need to go away again, and leave you alone."

Wow. What an ultimatum.

"I don't hate you." Erin started. "And...I shouldn't have reacted the way I did." she admitted. "But...there was a lot going on at that time. There was a guy who was claiming that I was dating him, wouldn't leave me alone, you and Chris were constantly going at it, Ben was harping everyone about being nice and staying away from me, and I kind of felt like the bad guy.

"And then when you painted that picture, it put everything in prospective. I wanted to be with you, and I got the jist that you wanted to be with me, but...it would've made the cabin so...uncomfortable. And to top it off, I was embarrassed."  
"I was too..." Connor offered.

Erin shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. I'm over it."

Connor bent over to look her in the eyes. "But are you over us?" he asked, and took her face in his hand.

Erin watched his expression. He seemed hopeful and Erin knew in her heart that she should say yes, so he could move on and find someone that he deserved. Someone you would love him and wouldn't find the tiny, stupid things to get upset about, and someone who had a great body and a wonderful personality. Not her, who was the equivalent of a wet rag.

But how could she lie? She'd missed him too, in her subconscious, as she wouldn't think of him voluntarily. And didn't she want to let herself be enveloped into his arms again, to let her head lean on his chest and take in the smell of him?  
Yes, of course.

But would that be selfish?  
Yes, of course.

But would she lie?  
No.

"No, I'm not. But I don't think you would want me." she warned him.  
"And why, in heaven's name not?" Connor asked, pulling Erin in for a hug, but she pushed away  
"I'm not the same." she replied.  
"I noticed. You need sunlight."  
"That's not what I mean. I'm not...Erin anymore."  
"Because you've been cooped up in that stupid isolation cabin with no friends, and no interaction." Connor stated confidently.  
Erin shrugged. "I think you deserve better." she replied.

"I don't want better. I want you." Connor told her softly, and pulled her chin to him relentlessly, wrapping his other hand around her head so he could keep her against her struggling, and pressed his lips to hers.

(#1. Don't complain about length. I tried, and if I add anymore, it won't make sense. #2. I interpret the massive amount of hits but no reviews as people who don't like it. So tell me if you like it. You don't have to say a lot, but I appreciate grammar, spelling, and other notifications that one might find. =D Thanks for reading!)


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